First, thanks to “MM,” who submitted a comment on my last post, “Is Adventure Fun?,” pointing me (and others who might have read that post) to a highly entertaining and intriguing piece by climber Kelly Cordes, describing his own personal “fun scale.” It’s worth checking it out for yourself, but in sum, Kelly divides fun into three categories: His Category I Fun is what I would call “easy” fun: vacations, great food and wine, sipping margaritas on a beach somewhere. His Category II fun consists of experiences that are not at all fun at the time, but are fun in retrospect (possibly while downing a few of those margaritas at the beach). Category III fun describes experiences (like, say, getting stuck in a snowstorm on Mt. Everest, thinking you’re going to die) that don’t feel fun at the time … and don’t even seem fun in retrospect.
I’ve been thinking about that idea a lot, since reading Kelly’s post, because I’ve certainly had experiences that fit into all three of his categories of fun. And in truth, I’m not sure “fun” is the right term for some of the ones he classifies as Category III. And yet, I also get, on some level at least, why he grouped them all into some shade or flavor of “fun.”
When we look back on all the experiences and events of our lives, most people would agree that the ones we find most memorable, worthwhile, or significant are not all the days we spend in uneventful routine, schlepping back and forth to work, school, or repetitive errands. There are, of course, the big event days: weddings, graduations, funerals, first dates or meetings, job achievements or other outstanding and significant, course-turning moments in our lives.
But even those are days where our normal routines are broken and something different or unexpected came along to mark the day as significant. And a lot of the times we remember and retell, often with great enjoyment, are the ones where life took an unexpected and unpredictable turn, or we actually didn’t know how it’s all going to turn out. Even if it wasn’t all easy or enjoyable at the time.
Perhaps, if we still lived with the ever-present uncertainty and danger that our ancient cave-dwelling ancestors did, unexpected or unpredictable events or days wouldn’t hold such an appeal for us. But in our relatively predictable, safe lives, there is a certain glint-in-the-eye appeal of activities, events, or adventures where everything isn’t quite so safe and predictable. Hence the appeal of everything from bungee jumping to base jumping.
So when Kelly describes some of his Category III “fun” escapades, they might not have been fun in the traditional sense of the word, but they were memorable, intense, and vivid. Which is perhaps more “fun” than, say, boring, meaningless, repetitive routine. Interesting to note, as well, is that I looked “fun” up in Webster’s dictionary and found that one definition actually was “excited activity.” So in that sense, Kelly’s Category III “fun” really does fit the “traditional” sense of the word, albeit the 4th or 5th definition down on the list.
In the end, what constitutes “fun” may depend on how broadly, or against what other alternatives, one defines “fun.” But important to note in Kelly’s description of Category III events is that he and the friends he experienced those harrowing adventures with … all lived to tell the tales. Which means on some level, it all worked out okay.
Horrible or tragic events are not any shade or category of fun. Those are the ones we replay over and over in our heads, as if, perhaps, one time we might actually turn back time and get the chance to do things just differently enough that we could change the outcome. But if all ends well, we can look back on even miserably hard, scary, or other “extreme adventure” times that got a bit out of hand and acknowledge that they were at least vivid, memorable, and alive.
And being alive, or more accurately, feeling alive, is—at least to those with an adventurous spirit—fun. Certainly way more fun than the alternative.
Food for thought, anyway.
(And, on another front, stay tuned for a bit more on the specifics of my flight east with Connor—I know a couple of readers were asking.)
