What’s Fun Got to Do With It? What Mary Poppins Was Trying to Tell Us

Do you remember Mary Poppins? I do. In fact, I’ve been thinking about her a great deal.

In case you don’t remember, Mary Poppins is the magical and eccentric nanny from the P.L. Travers books and Disney movie musical.

In the movie, Mary arrives unannounced at the Banks household, a very, very serious household lead by a very, very serious man. Mr. Banks has no time for fun and thus no time for play, and when Mary introduces both into his home as the nanny of his children, some serious head butting ensues.

But as it turns out, fun is just what this family needed and by the end of the story Mr. Banks is joyfully flying kites with his children.

It may sound silly and sappy and ridiculous, but Mary Poppins was trying to tell us something and I have to admit I wasn’t always listening. Were you?

After all, what’s fun got to do with it? With anything? Well, let me try to explain.

A Tale of Fun Forgotten

Do you see that picture up above? I can’t stop looking at it. There’s a story in that picture, and for me it’s the story of everything that’s been happening around me, inside me, and to me for the past two years.

You see, in that picture I’m having fun. And what’s even better is the fact that I’m having fun with the woman I love most in this world, Carol, my wife of twenty years.

It hasn’t always been this way. We haven’t always laughed so readily or been so much at ease with one another or enjoyed our time together so much. There were some very tough times. We almost didn’t make it.

And it wasn’t because times were bad. Yes, there were times when the money was short. Yes, there were times when we were both exhausted with the challenges of life. There were times when she didn’t understand me and I didn’t understand her and neither of us felt much like trying to understand anything at all. We were tired, but being tired was a symptom; it wasn’t the problem.

We were tired because we took everything so serious, especially ourselves, but Carol couldn’t hold a candle to me. I was one, giant, tightly wound, incredibly earnest ball of deathly serious stuff. Somewhere along the way, I forgot how to have fun. And when I think about it, the only thing that really changed is that I started to remember.

I started to remember what it means to enjoy things, to try things, to explore and create things. I’m not sure how, but one day I slowly began to open my eyes and started noticing what was good in my life and began thinking about it and writing about it and occasionally drawing pictures of it.

I remembered what it was like to go on a date and decided to ask Carol out on one. We’ve been going on one at least once a week for over a year now and I’m never going to stop asking her.

I remembered what it was like to have a beer with a friend, dance with a five-year-old, and get off the couch and do something.

Yes, I remembered what it was like to have fun. Do you remember?

Why So Serious?

Or have you forgotten? Do you take your relationships so seriously that you’ve forgotten how to have fun with the people you care about? Is everything a problem to solve? A goal to be reached?

And what about your relationship with yourself? Have you become the worst boss you ever had? I have to confess that for a short while I had.

Once people started showing up here, I realized how much I’d really like to keep doing this, but then I made the fatal mistake of taking it too seriously and, before you know it, I wasn’t having all that much fun. I set unreasonable expectations for myself in almost every realm. I was trying to write a long post every day, get a newsletter out, send out Something Daily, keep up with emails, tweet so many times a day, read everything that passed before my eyes, and hold down my day job. I forgot about the rest of my life.

I had some great plans, but I was demanding so much of myself regarding less important matters I simply couldn’t get to them.

And I wasn’t reading as much, wasn’t drawing as much, and wasn’t laughing as often as I did in the beginning. Quite frankly, I was exhausting and boring myself.

Has this happened to you on the way to where it is you wish to go? Have you forgotten? Are you so serious about your dreams that you’ve turned them into chores?

The Power of Play

I was listening to an interview with Dr. Stuart Brown, the author of Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, when he said something that struck me right between the eyes. I hope it does the same to you.

Dr. Brown said, “If the goal of what we’re doing becomes more important than the doing, then it’s probably not play.”

And if it’s not play, it’s not much fun. Being playful is a crucial part of creativity and I think it’s a key ingredient to creating work that not only pleases us but pleases others as well. I’ve noted before that the more open I am when I write, the more people seem to respond. But I’ve also noticed that when I have fun writing a post, it has a similar effect. It’s as if people can feel the joy I experienced while writing it.

If you turn your dreams into chores or matters of absolute life and death, would it be any wonder if you suddenly found yourself less enthusiastic about pursuing them and if others became less excited about supporting you.

Let the Games Begin

Mary Poppins said it best. “In every job that must be done there is an element of fun. Find the fun and – SNAP – the game begins.”

That’s why I’ve been thinking about her. Those are the words that keep playing in my mind.

Finding the playfulness in what you’re doing can’t help but increase the chances of your returning to it and seeing it through. But turn it into a fear filled trek and your arms and legs become heavy, your thoughts become sluggish, and your imagination just freezes.

Find the fun. Let the games begin. Make pursuing your dreams as enjoyable as achieving them.

I thought of all this the other day while looking at my resistance list, my overview of all that I’ve been avoiding, and I realized just how much I’d used the thoughts in my head to turn those things into soul sucking slave labor.

I’ve been wanting to learn how to use the new membership site software I purchased, but I was dreading what I imagined would be a technological nightmare. I only had to infuse one thought to kill the resistance. I thought, “Look at all I’m learning.” And I kept that thought in mind as I worked my way through one module after another. Pretty soon I was actually grinning and literally had to make myself stop and go to bed.

What could you do to turn your sense of dread into one of excitement? How could you turn that item on your to-do list that never seems to get checked off into a game?

Besides, a playful spirit is contagious, engaging, attractive. People want to know what the heck you’re smiling about. Maybe you could pull a Tom Sawyer and convince people that what you’re doing is so fun they should be paying you to help you get it done. Only in this case, it really will be fun because you’ve found a way to make it so.

Whatever your destination, find a way to enjoy the journey. You’re far more likely to stay on path. And that’s what fun’s got to do with it.

Photo by Chris Stanfield Photography

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Tagged as: Playful