How to add a bit of whimsy

I want more silly in my life

I want more silly in my life.

The thought has been running through my head for a while now, but fully bloomed reading the comment section of a post asking girls to share the cute little things they do to make their lives more whimsical and fun. ¹

It was brimming with gems. One girl screams “Happy New Year!” whenever she sees the timer on the microwave go 3… 2… 1… Another tells her hamster not to answer the door for anyone before she leaves for the day. One likes drinking water out of small wooden bowls at night—it makes her feel like she’s being nursed back to health by spirits. Another keeps bubbles in her car for when she’s stuck in traffic.

Harmless. Just because. Just for the sake of adding a bit of play to a mundane, often too serious everyday, without it needing logic or reason.

Do I have any habits like that? I found myself thinking. I do have this idea of myself as someone prone to whimsy. I jump in puddles when it rains. I’m not above waving good morning to the pigeons perched on the roof, or challenging someone to a sword fight with sticks. Yet I could definitely use a splash of creativity and humour.

So—using some of the comment section examples from the wonderful girlies of the internet—here are 3 ways to add a bit of whimsy to your life.

1. Give life to inanimate things

Treat objects like they have thoughts, feelings, and opinions. Name them. Ask them questions. Turn them into characters. Not only does this make you see, care for, and appreciate your things in a different way, it’s also just pure silly fun.

• I tell the doorknob to “unhand me” when my jacket gets caught

• I hot-glued a bow tie onto my Roomba and called him Jeffrey

• I ask “May I take your coats?” when peeling garlic

• I tell my food and drinks “Hold on, ladies” when turning sharp corners in my truck

• When I get little work-related pop-ups on my computer for typing something wrong, I go: “Oh you’re right, thanks for catching that”

• I ask jars and containers where they put their hat when looking for the lid

• I thank candles before blowing them out

• I tell my dishes it’s bath time

2. Talk to animals like they’re in on a joke

Similar to the previous point—although you’ve got a better chance of actually getting a conversation going here. Basically, greet or talk to animals and insects as if they were people. I mean, we all know they’re just hiding their true abilities and that they can, in fact, both speak and understand us perfectly. If we keep at it they might break someday.

• For my own amusement I say “Officers!” and nod when I see pigeons

• Every time I leave my house, I tell my cats “No parties”

• I update bees on the good things in my life whenever I see them; whispering quick little details and secrets

• I say “Big fan of your work” whenever I find a spider in my house

• Before my cat passed, I would enter my apartment and pretend like it was hers and ask her before I used anything

• I taught my dog to obey completely random words. Ashtray: she sat. Doorknob: she rolled over. Kumquat: she sat up

3. Create tiny rituals

Instead of calling it a habit or routine, call it a ritual. Pick something and choose to believe in it. Add a soundtrack to make it feel like you’re in a movie. Weave funny phrases or movement into ordinary tasks. The options are endless. It’s really just about romanticising life—finding ways to make the boring or frustrating cosier, more joyful, or entertaining.

• I say “My lady” whenever I walk by a mirror

• I wear matching pyjamas every time I change my sheets, so I can have what I call fancy sleep

• I have Antarctica pinned on the weather app to check on the penguins every day

• I sew a small heart on the back left pocket of all my jeans

• Whenever I get a journal I give it a name and write all my entries as letters addressed to that name

• I listen to James Bond themes while I navigate airports. Makes me feel clandestine

• I paint on the shells of garden snails so I know when I have a repeat visitor

• Whenever I drop or mess something up when I’m alone, I bow and say “And scene” instead of getting frustrated

• I send a postcard home to my future self when I travel

• I call my to-do list my TA-DA list and do jazz hands as I tick things off

• I listen to medieval tavern music when I cook

• When I take my contacts out every night I say to myself “Alright I’ve seen enough”

• Whenever someone is driving aggressively, I tell myself it’s because they really have to poop

• I have this belief that if I run into a golden retriever out in public, it’s the universe telling me to have a good day

• Whenever I hang out with friends who have babies and I’m inevitably sitting with said baby, I amuse myself by pretending the baby and I are in deep conversation about geopolitics, philosophy or economics. And that the baby has some outré opinions. I like to believe the baby appreciates a break from traditional baby talk, too

It doesn’t really matter what we pick, it’s just about enhancing an experience by using our imagination freely. By remembering we have free will and can be as silly as we want.

Many of us have a tendency to get stuck in our patterns and neural pathways. So making things feel fresh and fun again often comes down to simply doing something differently.

Like sitting someplace not meant for sitting: the kitchen counter, the floor of a library, hood of a car, a low brick wall. Or if you’re used to reading non-fiction books; try fantasy or chick-lit. Bring your coffee mug on a walk around the block. Film an amateur music video and don’t post it anywhere.

Life is more fun when you try not to step on the cracks in the pavement just as you did as a child. When you buy yourself a little treat as a reward for completing a task. When you look for signs and make up your own game when you’re out, just because.

Being alive is serious and hard enough as it is. If we can make it a little lighter by pretending we’re making an instructional youtube video while cleaning the bathroom, then why not?

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Also—do you have a drafted message in your notes app that you never sent someone? Want to share it anonymously and perhaps have it featured on the blog? A lot of you resonated with my ‘confessions of a notes app’ text, saying you had tons of them. I want to write more on this and would love to have some real life examples from you. You can find the form here <3

1. Originally from this TikTok video by abigail.bailey0, but I found it through this Instagram post by tarawinequeenwrites which also had a ton of great comments.