Are You Draining Your Fun Before It Even Starts?

After noticing my own “fun meter” running low, I reflect on how overthinking, pressure, and overwhelm were taking the joy out of experiences before they even started.

Through real-life moments—from a high-energy event filled with connection to a simple, joy-filled hospital delivery— I uncover a deeper truth:

✨ Fun isn’t just about the moment—it’s about how you show up to it
 ✨ How we unintentionally drain our energy before doing things we love
 ✨ Why your “fun meter” might be empty before you even arrive
 ✨ The importance of allowing joy, presence, and receiving

This episode is your invitation to pause and ask:

👉 Am I overcomplicating things that are meant to bring me joy?
 👉 Where am I draining myself before I even begin?
 👉 And how can I allow just a little more fun back in?

Because you don’t have to go from empty to full overnight—
 you just have to stop draining it before you get there.

You can find me at:
https://www.instagram.com/cataton/
https://www.facebook.com/casey.taton/

You can find what sparks me at:
https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1AgeRtyojY/
https://www.instagram.com/lmbdcelebrations/

Music by: Jason and Ashley Scheufler
Artwork by:  https://www.instagram.com/graphx_ink/

Transcript

0:00

What if you're draining your energy before the fun even begins? Hey friends. Welcome to the Enter Spark podcast. I'm your host, Casey Caton. If you're looking to hear stories of transformation and personal growth, this podcast is for you. My guest and I will be sharing those sparking moments that has changed the mental living a more fulfilling authentic life. I'm so excited for you to hear each unique story. So sit back, relax, and let's get started. Hey friend. Welcome back to the N Spec Podcast. I'm your host, Casey Taten, and this is a shower sprinkle on fun. And your fun meter is how I like to think about it is how I like to gauge, like where am I having fun? Where is my fun meter? And when I envision that in my brain, it's kind of like your gas gauge in your car. Do you let it run all the way to empty, or are you keeping it more on full? Right now I want you to do a quick check in and ask yourself, where's my fun meter at today? And full disclosure, this podcast was recorded and sent out. And I'm rerecording it because I was thinking about this podcast about my fun meter and I have been checking on mine. And if I'm being honest, it's been running a little on the low side life. I felt full, but not necessarily fun. And I had this aha moment today, and this is exactly what happened. I do these events all the time where I go out and speak and kids help and they for the hospital parties. So I go out and speak, and then they make posters and banners and blankets for me. But what happens before is I go into this overwhelm. And I literally suck the fun out of everything that I love doing it before I do it. And tonight I came home and I was exhausted and it was such a fun filled day day with all these students. But before I went, I was tired. And when I came home I was tired. And it's because I will. Physically drain every bit a lot of fun. Before I do an event, and I am sharing this because it's true honesty, and I looked at the last two events that I'm gonna tell you about. One of'em was the past weekend, I was at an event. And this is where I came up with this, is something shifted in me. It was a running event, a race I was invited to, and I had my sample station with my yummy, delicious sparkling water set up. And the music was playing and I was dancing and connecting and talking to people, giving them out samples. And I just felt alive and I was like, this is where I'm supposed to be. I had that moment of this is what fills me up, connection, conversation, and sharing something I love. And then yesterday, on Thursday, I had something else happen. It was so simple. I was delivering hospital parties and. It was honestly, such a meaningful moment. I was delivering the hospital party and a volunteer offered to help me carry everything up. And at first I was like, no, I've got it. I'm good. But he kept insisting and he finally said to me, it would really make me happy if you let me do this. And it hit me. I'm not receiving. So I said, okay, sure. I receive this. And then he takes it even a step further. He puts a little princess crown on my head and we are laughing the entire time, like real in the moment. Deep hard belly laughs I can't stop smiling, kind of laughter. And he is pointing out every bump as I'm in this wheelchair. Holding the cake on my lap so I don't drop the cake. And I'm joking about being the queen or the princess rolling through the hospital, and it was so fun and so simple and so unexpected, but a completely filled me up. And the best part is I went there to bring joy and I got to receive it. Right back. And it made me realize we don't let our gas tank run on empty, right? We don't damage our cars. We notice when it's getting low, we stop and we fill it up. But when we talk about fun, we run on empty all the time. We keep going. We're checking those boxes, we're pushing through, and we don't even realize how low we are getting until everything starts to feel heavy, but here's the thing, fun. It doesn't always have to be something big. And we don't even realize how low we are until everything starts to feel heavy. And this is where my realization clicked in Casey. Oh my gosh, you've done these events, you've done all these fun things, but before every single one of these things, you've over complicated them. And depleted yourself and sucked the fun out of every one of them before I got there. And when I got there I was fine, but I literally had this realization tonight of I take my fun meter and I put it on empty before I even get there, which is craziness. So here's the thing, fun doesn't have to always be something big. You don't have to plan it. It's not always the event. It's something you allow. It comes from within you, from being present, from being open, letting yourself actually fill the moment you're in. So today it isn't about adding more, it is really about noticing where can I let more lightness in? Where can I let myself feel something good? So I'm inviting you to check in. Where's your fun meter today, and what would it look like to fill it up and even just a little bit, like 2%, fill it up because we don't have to go from empty to full overnight. And I would love to know where you allowed fun in after hearing this episode and if you resonated where I had this huge aha moment tonight of like, holy crap, Casey, you suck the fun out of things before you get there, and they're things you love doing and they're things that bring you so much joy. But I will really put my fun meter on empty before I get there, before I can allow the fun to happen, which sounds ridiculously crazy, but I promise you, I'm probably not the only one out there. And I'm telling you this for awareness because it hit me today of I did it to myself last night. I did it as I was driving there, and then as soon as I get there, my fun meter, it just like kicks in all the way, like that gas gauge. It's just moving all the way up to full. I'm having so much fun and I need to recognize my body that I don't have to drain my fun meter eater before I go do the things that are fun to me and fun looks different for everybody. I just wanna thank you. For listening to this episode, and I want to know where you connected. Can you look at your gas cage and say, ah, I see what she's talking about. Where's my fun meter today? And where can I put in a little bit of gas or a little bit of fun? Thanks for tuning in and I can't wait to hear where your fun meter's at. Thank you for tuning into another episode. I hope today's story inspired you to embrace your own journey of growth and change. Remember, transformation isn't always easy, but it's always worth it. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe. Share it with a friend, and leave a review. If you found something that sparked you in this episode and may spark a friend, I encourage you to go share with them. If you have your own story you would like to share, I would love to hear it. So please reach out to me. Until next time, friends, go have some fun and let those sparks lie.