Stop Protecting Your Peace. Start Ruining It (A Little)

By: Caitlin Hancock

Have we forgotten how to have fun?

This wave of overpolished selfcare is turning us into the ‘algorithmically optimised’ versions of ourselves and I for one am not okay with that. 

Have we leaned too much into our Sunday resets and 5-9s before our 9-5s that we’ve forgotten how to have fun? Somewhere down the line, we’ve started to become mosaics of Pinterest boards, day in the life videos, Tiktok recipes and productivity hacks. When did we stop doing things purely for the fun of doing them?

So, on that note, we’re making 2026 more fun. 

This isn’t going to be me telling you that you need to swing the pendulum entirely the other way and forget about any kind of healthy habits or wellness routines but it is me telling you that you need to prioritise balance. 

When was the last time that you did something completely spontaneous and slightly reckless? Something that ended in the most eye opening conversation you’ve ever had with a complete stranger at 2am? Are we ‘protecting our peace’ or are we shielding ourselves from the experiences that, deep down, we’re all craving. The desire to be more well-rounded has forced many of us into a complete shift away from everything we originally deemed to be fun to everything we think we’re supposed to deem as fun. Living in physical and digital worlds where ‘doing’ is so heavily rewarded is trapping us in the cycle of hyper productivity purely to shout about how much we’re doing at any one time. Having fun takes as much effort sometimes as doing that boring thing you’ve been putting off. 

Bringing the fun back is about intention. Make clear plans to see your friends, go out the bar when you’re feeling tired. If you’re actively trying to have fun, you will have more fun.

Start doing things just because - the occasion is living!

 Wear that outfit that you think is too dressy for that occasion. Buy yourself some flowers on a random Tuesday afternoon. Open that bottle of wine you’ve been saving for ‘something special’. 

Life doesn’t need a complete overhaul in order to become fun again. Whilst quitting your job, cutting bangs, or moving halfway across the world seem like ideal ways to restart and refresh, you just need to give yourself some time and rediscover how you used to have fun. Making your life more fun isn’t about fully reinventing yourself but about allowing parts of yourself back in that maybe you’ve been repressing. 

Give yourself permission to explore joy again in the simplest of ways (of course, alongside being out until 4 am in the morning), the way you did when you were a kid. Trust me, she knew more than you think she did.