Little moments, big fun

Every few years, I like to update my List of 100 Dreams. This is my long list of anything I might want to do with my time.

Inevitably, this list includes many bucket list items, such as visiting New Zealand or singing in the Bach B-Minor Mass.

These “big fun” items take a lot of planning and preparation. That means they won’t really be an option on an average Tuesday. But if you’re looking for some middle ground between scrolling and going to New Zealand, it might be possible to squeeze some big fun into little moments.

Accessible versions

For instance, maybe I won’t be going to New Zealand this year, but I can check out coffee table books with photos of New Zealand from the library. If I’m looking for something mindless to thumb through, that can work.

I haven’t figured out a way to sing in a performance of Bach’s B-Minor Mass yet. But there are plenty of amazing performances available online. I can listen to those — or even play a piano version of the “Agnus Dei” alto solo and sing along!

Perhaps your version of big fun is going on a culinary tour of Morocco (yum!). While you figure out your time line for getting to Marrakesh, you can check out a book about tagine cooking and maybe try that out this weekend. Or stream Casablanca while you’re at it.

A down payment on future fun

Even something that’s theoretically more doable — like going on family bike rides — might be hard to pull off frequently between weather woes and sports schedules. But if you’re just scrolling around online, you could target that scrolling to read reviews of local trails and choose a new one to try.

You should absolutely make room in your schedule at some point for that sculpture class you’re hoping to take. But if that’s not happening right now, get some model clay to play around with…and look at online photos of sculptures at major museums, such as the Louvre or the Prado, for inspiration.

Bucket list items are great, but they often require bigger chunks of time to pull off. If you’ve only got little moments right now, don’t get discouraged! Instead, just try to use some of those small moments for little bits of your bigger fun. After all, you’ll do something with this time. Better that thing be bucket list adjacent vs. reading terrible social media posts!

*******

Vanderhacks is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.