Life Changing 'Aha!' Moments!

You know those moments where the world seems to crack open and you never see things the same way again? This happened to me a couple of years ago when I was getting my haircut and it changed my mindset and brought clarity to my life.

As you know, I’ve been an accidental entrepreneur for nearly a decade. The motivation for us to start organizing programs as Mastermind Adventures was to create a way for our kids to find connection. As we started building community by creating game nights, Nerf meetups and Dungeons & Dragons games, we realized pretty quickly that the need for this kind of connection went far beyond my own kids.

This was my inspiration and my passion – this was my ‘Why’! And with such meaningful purpose, it was easy to work 80 hour weeks to create unique and exciting programs. In fact, the demands never ended- there was constant need – always something else that required attention and it all felt very immediately important.

Add to that my own brain chemistry, and I had a cocktail for sleeplessness, hyper focus and 24/7 work, work, work.

The Aha! Moment

Fast forward several years and I had given up on the hope that “after this, things will slow down” or “next week I’ll be able to rest” thinking. Then, a couple of years ago I was getting my haircut at a new salon and the stylist asked me what I did for a living. And I prattled on about our projects, and what was coming up, and about my family and what we were working on – and she said, “Oh, that’s neat! What do you do for fun?”

And I froze. Fun? What do I do for fun? I don’t know what I do for fun? Do people still have fun? Can I?

Here I was in the middle of a business that created FUN for other people playing games, interactive stories and creativity – and I completely forgot to make time to have fun myself!

It was so embarrassing.

And since that day, I try very hard to make time to have fun. My husband and I play tabletop and couch co-op games together, I make time to play Animal Crossing on my Nintendo, I try to stop working at a reasonable time so that I can eat and relax watching a show or read a book before I go to bed.

I have to MAKE time for fun. Because if I don’t, the world will just keep filling up every available space with more things to DO. With more WORK.

The Big Change

So my question to you is, What do you do for fun?

When was that last time that you made time for FUN? Do you think about fun as being as essential as your health? Or your work? Or – and this is a big one for me – OTHER PEOPLE’S NEEDS?

In the article Play doesn’t end with childhood: Why Adults need Recess too Dr. Stuart Brown from the National Institute for Play says that to understand why play is important, we have to clearly define what play is.

“Play is something done for its own sake,” he explains. “It’s voluntary, it’s pleasurable, it offers a sense of engagement, it takes you out of time. And the act itself is more important than the outcome.”

We play because it helps us maintain our social well-being. It’s how we connect with others.

We play because it helps our brains work better. Puzzles and challenges that get us thinking keep our brains sharp.

We play because we need to be silly! Studies show that being silly makes us smarter, reduces stress, balances hormone levels, gives us more energy.

Most importantly, play deprivation for any age results in individuals suffering from a lack of life engagement, creative expression, diminished optimism and energy.

What we can offer

This is why it is our goal and our focus to help people find connection and community through tabletop role playing games so you can embrace your creativity and individuality resulting in more fun! I want to help you find your perfect game.

To wrap things up, I just want to say that, Adventurer, I know that there are a million things fighting for your time and attention. I have had to learn to take time for myself and to make time to play so that I could be my very best and most productive. And I believe you can too.