Point me to the fun!

Monica from Friends was famed for several quirks that included organising fun. She was often lampooned for insisting guests played by the rules, did things properly and didn’t deviate from planned activity.

And of course it feels infuriating to be told what to do.

But I wonder though whether we all respond better to forced behaviour than we like to think, once we get over our annoyance at our hand being played for us.

Sociologically, a prison life, a cloistered life, a school life and so on all give structure. They’re designed to ensure you don’t have to think about the routine, so you’re ‘free’ to engage more fully with a greater task be that penance, devotion, learning or whatever.

Professionally we may sometimes feel we’re stuck within an institution and by a set of rules we didn’t choose but actively that might well lead to the best conditions for us to succeed within it and within ourselves.

Rather than fighting the system with a frustrated internal narrative, think what you’re getting out of it. Go with the flow and get on with whatever’s defined by circumstance. And maybe even enjoy or celebrate it.

As a balance, think of all of the choices you never pursue. Don’t forget your inner laziness, inner apathy, inner blindness. Freedom to do what you wish doesn’t always lead to action, progress or satisfaction. 

So perhaps sometimes we should more happily accept those things which seem to be done to us and even applaud the Monicas of life. Go with the structure, go with the planned activity. It can be quite a relief not to have think so much.