The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun

One of my tweet peeps (sjtryon) on Twitter recently talked about The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun, and I had to go look at the link, because, well, they ARE irresistible. They remind me of John Belushi’s devilish raised eyebrow in Animal House, and they aren’t even actual frat pranks to take on.

The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun entail a manner of living which means you will have no regrets for the path not taken. There won’t be “I wish I had’s” when it’s all said and done if you follow the principles to the utmost that you choose.

If I tell you any more, I’ll ruin your first impression and perhaps change your journey to look like mine somehow. And did I act on it as soon as I read it? No, I did not, because I was still stuck in the habit of not having fun.

But the seed was planted.

Not long after I read it, one of my friends with whom I had had long dreamy conversations about owning my very own iron pony (having given up on being able to have horses again), came to me and said she had purchased a motorcycle that very day. I was very happy for her, and furious with myself for having not followed my own dream to fruition. We talked excitedly about her bike and I told her how happy I was for her, and said I would come to see it.

The next morning I was hunting for my own bike, with a determination that surprised and almost troubled my significant other. I had been looking at motorcycles for 5 years. My own fear of not succeeding had caused such nervousness that I had failed to complete the motorcycle safety course. I had sabotaged myself, sabotaged my own joy and fun through a lack of belief in myself.

I found The Silver Streak at a Harley dealership not far away. It wasn’t the average ladies’ bike, having been upgraded with performance parts rather than lots of chrome and fringe, but I wanted to ride with precision, not to look cool. It was silver, but they called it diamond ice. I’m not particularly fond of the color silver by any name, but I haven’t ever bought a vehicle based on it’s color. It took me a week to dump the bike at a standstill. I picked it up, got back on, and once I had got that over with (my worst fear), I learned to ride with the help of  Jerry Paladino’s ‘Ride Like a Pro’ CD (www.RideLikeAPro.com), and a lot of encouragement, support, constructive criticism and ergonomic bike optimization from my sweetie (who is the ultimate primo wrench and riding veteran of more than 20 years).

Now I’ve gone off topic here a bit, but I wanted to illustrate one way that the Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun worked in my life. My tweet’s link was not the first time I had seen these principles, but I’m so glad he reminded me. I’ve tried to put them into practice since then, but if you don’t go back to the source, the memory fades or becomes corrupted. Time to reboot and refresh. Have fun always!