Fun is What Reduces Drama in Real Life

“You find the fun and snap! The job’s a game.”

As a child, I was fascinated with Mary Poppins and how she related to children. She wasn’t very serious. At least not “seriously serious.” Although she appeared to be serious about the necessity for fun.

Like many other children who were born around the 1970s in the Soviet Union, I learned about Mary Poppins from a Soviet 1983 two-part musical film titled Mary Poppins, Goodbye.

“Mary Poppins, Goodbye (Russian: Мэри Поппинс, до свидания!; translit. Meri Poppins, do svidaniya) is a Soviet 1983 two-part musical miniseries (part 1 Lady Perfection, part 2 Week ends on Wednesday), directed by Leonid Kvinikhidze. It is loosely based on the Mary Poppins stories by P. L. Travers. The TV series was ordered by the Gosteleradio of USSR and produced by Mosfilm. The official television premiere was on January 8, 1984.” — Wikipedia

Only much later as an adult did I hear her “concept” and song, “A Spoonful of Sugar.”

And only as I was writing Self-Gamification Happiness Formula and continuing to research the topics of games, gamification, kaizen, awareness, and fun, did I discover this verse:

“In ev’ry job that must be done

There is an element of fun

You find the fun and snap!

The job’s a game.”

— From Mary Poppins’ Song “A Spoonful of Sugar”

Mary Poppins’ song was again a discovery of profound wisdom, somehow forgotten as we live our lives.

I love how in the process of turning my life into games, sharing this possibility with others in my online course on how to motivate ourselves by turning our lives into fun games, and in the book Self-Gamification Happiness Formula, I rediscover these beautiful pearls of wisdom and make myself and others aware of them.

So, what makes the drama fall away?

When we find and experience fun in what we do, the drama and heaviness we previously attached to the task disappear.

Thank you for reading this article! I hope you enjoyed it.

Note: It is a modified excerpt from Self-Gamification Happiness Formula: How to Turn Your Life into Fun Games.

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About the author:

Victoria is a writer, instructor, and consultant with a background in semiconductor physics, electronic engineering (with a Ph.D.), information technology, and business development. While being a non-gamer, Victoria came up with the term Self-Gamification, a gameful and playful self-help approach bringing anthropology, kaizen, and gamification-based methods together to increase the quality of life. She approaches all areas of her life this way. Due to the fun she has, while turning everything in her life into games, she intends never to stop designing and playing them.