Shenanigans means: According to the Oxford Dictionary, “Silly or high-spirited behavior; mischief.” The earliest the word was found printed anywhere was in the 1800’s. I have been having a great birthday month and I have been up to a lot of Shenanigans. I have been using this word a lot in my video and picture journaling as a caption to my experiences of celebration. I thought why not use this word in my title of my blog and podcast. I hesitated though because I thought to myself that it is such an old word and readers and listeners might avoid my blog or podcast because of the use of the word. I was binge watching a show that is recent and is based on college students lives. As I was sitting there watching and thinking about my podcast the actress playing a college student said,”She is up to a lot of Birthday Shenanigans!” I literally paused the show and rewound. Listened and the character actually said it. I felt that was my sign to use the word Shenanigans because even though it originates from the 1800’s the youth of today are still using the word. I have such fond memories of my Grandmother yelling at my brother and I saying,”Stop all of those Shenanigans!” It brings a smile to my face as I hear her voice in my head.
So the Summer of Shenanigans has evolved into a wonderful thought process and I want to encourage you to have a sprinkle of Shenanigans in your Summer. Of course I am suggesting High-Spirited Legal Behavior. Close your eyes for a minute and what kind of Shenanigans come to your mind? Are you having a hard time envisioning it? Think back to your childhood, I bet you can identify some Shenanigans that you got into. I believe one of the healthy goals that we should maintain in our lives is to every now and again tap into our inner child. Remember how silly, limitless, having weak boundaries and a sense of being free you had? Somewhere along the line as we grow up we lose our sense of being care-free and silly. This is where Shenanigans come into play.
I acknowledge that sometimes getting into Shenanigans you might have to step a little out of your Comfort Zone. However, with Shenanigans this is not necessarily true. I want you to dig really deep here and find that Silly side of you. The moments where you are sitting with friends/family and you have those silly moments where you start to laugh and the soda you are drinking spits right out of your mouth and nose. I am actually laughing about this as I write it. I hope you have many Shenanigans like this in your life. If not it’s time to sit and spend time with others and to have just silly and care-free conversations.
Make plans with some friends and make a list of crazy foods you will try. Go out and try some eel, octopus, grasshoppers or any other unique food item you can think of. I can just envision how many laughs can come from these type of Shenanigans. I know a lot of people have done Karaoke before. Have a bunch of friends over to have a karaoke night. Can you picture the laughs that can occur and some Shenanigans.
Go out and buy anything you can think of that would go on an ice-cream sundae. Have people over and make sundaes. You see the sundae is the catalyst to create laughs, smiles and giggles with people that are important to you. Go on a shopping spree with one of your favorite people to shop with. I know I have those specific friends that I have had many Shopping Shenanigans with. When you are with family/friends create silly selfies and make an album of them. This is a great trick to have saved so when you are feeling down you can pull out that video album on you phone and remember the Shenanigans.
A friend of mine posted some of her summer experiences and one picture was of her on a helicopter ride. Now, for me that would be a nightmare but for her I knew it meant she was getting into Shenanigans. It’s all relative and personal as to what Shenanigans can be for you. Another friend of mine posted a picture of herself on a camel in the middle of the desert. The look and smile on her face was pure Shenanigans. If you do go on a vacation this summer make sure you step out of your normal behaviors and look for some Shenanigans to get into. I am going on my Vacation very soon and my goal for myself is to step out of my comfort zone and to get into some great Shenanigans. I am ready to have those gut wrenching laughs that make your stomach hurt. No matter what you try you can’t stop laughing from the experience.
The purpose here is to get you to start thinking on ways you can have some pure fun and great laughs with your tribe of people. There is nothing more pure than getting that natural high from having a great belly laugh.
Pop in your earbuds and check out Episode 81 of my podcast Wide Open Spaces with Ilise where we will really dive into some Shenanigans together.
POSITIVE THOUGHTS ALWAYS CREATE POSITIVE ENERGY
GO OUT AND EXPLORE ALL OF THE WIDE OPEN SPACES IN YOUR WORLD
SEE YOU AFTER MY VACATION
CIAO
Ilise
