Have you built failure into your foundation by leaving out this crucial ingredient for success? If so, you’re not alone. 

In today’s episode, Kristelle and Jace reveal one of the most challenging elements of success to implement – fun. Now wait a minute! Don’t skip past this one thinking fun has nothing to do with your professional or personal success. Leaving it out is a guaranteed way to block yourself from achieving a full, fantastic life. 

Come kick it with the team for a bit and learn how to embrace the fun factor to turn even the most mundane tasks into joyous experiences. 

Before you go, imagine if we spent as much time relishing life as we do working, how much happier and successful we would be? This episode brings to you their journeys of rediscovering the joy of living, appreciating the small things, and understanding the impact it has on work, relationships and success. 

If you’re up for redefining your idea of fun, turning work into play and finding joy in the everyday, than this episode is not to be missed!

Subscribe now!

A Siarza Production
Hosted by Kristelle Siarza and Jace Downey
Executive Producer: Kristelle Siarza
Producer: Jace Downey
Videographer/Editor: Justin Otsuka

See all episodes at siarza.com/siarza-podcast
Follow us on FB, IG, TT, YT and TW @siarzatheagency
Follow Kristelle @kristellesiarza
www.misskristelle.com
Follow Jace @jacedowneyofficial 
www.jacedowney.com

About Stories, Success & Stuff:

Are you feeling stuck in your career, relationships, or life in general? Join Siarza CEO Kristelle Siarza and adversity alchemist Jace Downey as they explore the bullshit of success and excitement of failure. They’ll dive into stories from their own lives to provide a glimmer of hope and a reminder that whatever you’re experiencing, you are not alone. Through funny anecdotes and compelling conversations, they’ll show you that you have the power to create your own destiny. Tune in and learn how you can explore and shift the paths of life that lead to true fulfillment. This is an inspiring podcast about shifting paths, stumbling to success and creating a life you can fall in love with. So grab a cup of your favorite brew, put on your comfiest clothes, and prepare for untamed stories of success and stuff!

Episode Transcript (unedited)

Kristelle: 0:00

I need to stop and smell the roses once in a while. 

Jace: 0:03

They literally made fun of me for that the other day when we were volunteering for Polly’s Run. 

Kristelle: 0:09

Polly’s Run, which is a fundraiser for pancreatic cancer research. They made fun of you because you stopped the roses. 

Jace: 0:15

We were going to our volunteer station and we’re walking down the street and there were these, all these beautiful roses, and I’m like, so I stopped and I just went and they just started laughing. They’re like are you literally stopping to smell the roses right now? 

Kristelle: 0:30

Smile with your eyes. That’s how my cat looks at me every day. 

Jace: 0:39

Are we doing this again? So we’re just going to do another day, then why are you? 

Kristelle: 0:42

harassing me. That’s what my cat says. Okay we’re going to have a photo in today. Should we Because it’s called. Today’s episode is called. 

Jace: 0:54

Are we doing this, are we not? It’s fun, it’s called fun, fun, the importance of fun, the importance of fun, the funsies. Yeah for success, Funsies for success. 

Kristelle: 1:02

Let’s take a second, though, and talk about how fun this podcast has been. All right In terms of putting it together, in terms of changing the set, in terms of recording it, with Justin who walks around here and judges us whenever, or oh, he’s not judging us, so what you’re? 

Jace: 1:18

doing. I mean that’s your checking the frame, man Geez. 

Kristelle: 1:23

Oh, we have so much fun putting this podcast together, so thanks, as always, for making this so much fun. 

Jace: 1:27

And to you. 

Kristelle: 1:28

Yeah, I’m here for emotional support. 

Jace: 1:31

That’s it. Do I see him unhinged? 

Kristelle: 1:33

No, For everybody that listened to us. We’ve had some pretty incredible comments, right yeah. We had somebody that commented and said like I heard what you said, I’m listening to it, which is phenomenal. 

Jace: 1:43

Putting it into practice. Putting it into practice. 

Kristelle: 1:46

There’s some other person that said I didn’t know you were like that. 

Jace: 1:50

And no, that was a good point, right. Like they see you being successful and the outward component of that. And then, oh, by the way, there’s also stress and fear and tear and also all of that, and then they’re like wait what? You’re a whole person. 

Kristelle: 2:05

Yeah, you have emotions. 

Jace: 2:07

But since when? Because when I saw you on that magazine cover, you just looked like everything was going great. 

Kristelle: 2:12

Yeah, yeah, and so I think outwardly. I have been very vocal about the amount of fun I like to have, so this isn’t a surprising topic. I’m glad that we’re talking about it now, though. 

Jace: 2:24

Yeah. 

Kristelle: 2:25

Instead of later. You know what is the definition of fun, what’s the importance of fun in terms of success. 

Jace: 2:34

And I’ll just note. You say like this isn’t a surprising topic for us to discuss because we’re such big fans of fun. However, it is going to be a surprising topic for a lot of people. With regard to success, fun is one of the key elements of success that’s often left out of the conversation 100%. So if you’re like, I’m going to skip this episode, it’s just about fun. I’m over here trying to grow my empire. No, no, stick around. Fun is equally as important as all of the work and the teams and the mentors and the relationships and the hard times and the finances, and all of it equally important. 

Kristelle: 3:09

So we talk about our finance manager once in a while we do, and him and I had a really good conversation, management conversation, grounding conversation just catching up today and he says I never work a day in my life. 

Jace: 3:26

Like changing the payroll. 

Kristelle: 3:31

And I said OK, that makes sense. So when you hear that phrase never work a day in your life, you will never work a day in your life if you’re having fun with what you’re doing. 

Jace: 3:41

If you love what you do. If you love what you do, yeah, uh-huh. Tell me your thoughts on that phrase Commonly overused, for us entrepreneurs, yes, and I think it sets up an unrealistic ideal, because there are things that, like I love doing this. We talked about it. I think this is super fun. Let me walk into a room, let some shit come out of my mouth and if people like it, great, and like I, just get to be me, boom, that’s all I wanted. Like that’s fantastic, super fun, right, get to interact with someone. Fun and learn, I love it. And then, as a producer, I have to go create a title car Just does a title, but the titles and the description and go put it on the channels and all of that stuff. That’s not very fun for me. I don’t super enjoy that part of it. And so when it’s like, oh, if you do what you love, then you’ll never work a day in your life, and it’s like, yeah, but oftentimes the things that we love to do or that are really fun have all the surrounding stuff that’s very unsexy. He likes paperwork, so for him that probably is fun. For me I don’t want to do any paperwork or follow up. That’s not fun for me. And so when we think like well, it’s like well, then, am I doing the right? Am I in the right industry. Am I doing the right stuff? Am I really aligned? Because it’s not fun, because I don’t love every single minute of it. Then we start questioning it when the reality is, especially as an entrepreneur, there’s going to be some stuff that’s not fun or sexy, and it’s part of it. 

Kristelle: 5:02

Yep, yep, 100% so. 

Jace: 5:04

I will throw in that perspective and perception is the key there, when maybe I don’t love going and then doing all of the digital things that surround this, but I could put on my favorite music, I could put on a funny show or whatever to have it in the background, and so then I’m like how can I make this fun? If it’s something I don’t super enjoy? How can I make it fun? I know we’re going to talk about that finding the fun, which is something I’m very passionate about. 

Kristelle: 5:30

Here’s another phrase want to run by you. And what does the phrase mean to the contribution of success? At what point do we say to ourselves this isn’t fun anymore. 

Jace: 5:43

Oh man, so right away and just on a surface level, that brings up addictive reacting out for me, because there are things that were solutions at a time that then felt better, or at least felt numb and didn’t feel terrible, and partying can be fun, all of these things can be fun and then they stop being fun. And, of course, with addiction and compulsion, the activity doesn’t stop, however, but as soon as they’re like, oh, this isn’t fun anymore, where it’s like something has shifted or turned in me, in my life, in the activity, in my self-knowledge, whatever, and that’s a really important part to be able to analyze that and make sure that. And make shifts and or get the resources needed to be able to make those shifts. 

Kristelle: 6:34

There are people in a job, in the role of CEO, in the role of whatever leadership role that I think we forget to say that phrase. This isn’t fun anymore. So, I’ll take the example of Founder Syndrome. When let’s say, for example, you found an organization, you created it, you discovered it, you go through the trials and tribulations After 20 years of working the same organization, some people forget that they might have should have said the phrase this isn’t fun anymore 10 years before they retire, because fun makes. Fun is a relevant word to passion, excitement, motivation. Those are very commonly used. They have to be in the same pot. Yeah, when people forget that it’s not fun anymore, why continue doing it? Why continue pursuing? There’s always the argument of well, people depending on me, or my family’s depending on me, or I can’t quit. This is not my competitive nature. Well, last time I checked, a competition is supposed to be fun, even if it’s difficult to be in the competition in the first place. It’s supposed to be fun because that brings you joy, and that always is a phrase that I don’t think is standardized enough or used enough. 

Jace: 7:57

So kind of like losing touch with your roots on why you started the thing in the first place, whatever that passion was, whatever that energy was, and then you get caught in the day to day and the paperwork and all of that and then you forget like oh wait, a second, I came into this for a reason, this was important to me for a reason, and we used to do it in such a way where it was fun, and now it’s not. What can we shift? Yep, or is it time to step out Yep? Sometimes that’s part of it too. 

Kristelle: 8:25

Here’s another phrase. Run this one by you. Okay, Very applicable. 

Jace: 8:29

I’m like oh, this is phrase the phrase day. I was going to say we need a name for it, Phrase day. 

Kristelle: 8:33

Uh, work hard, play hard. Are you thoughts on that one? 

Jace: 8:39

When it is used, it’s usually in that order Work hard, work hard, work hard. Then you get to play hard, and we have this notion, in our society at least, that fun or play is a reward you get after you’ve done the work, like you can go out and play once your chores are done. And so we have fun in a different level than the work, whether we’re talking about actual work, like we do here, or inner work. When we talk about the work, right that there are different things and that one is more important, that the work is more important than the play and the fun, and that is wildly inaccurate on so many levels. Yeah, I actually don’t like that phrase. 

Kristelle: 9:19

And I think it’s missing. 

Jace: 9:20

Yeah, rest well. Yeah, I think it’s not a complete phrase. Yeah. 

Kristelle: 9:27

I. It’s a really interesting topic, or a perspective for sure. I love that phrase and I know there’s always going to be times where we look at things like you’re the yin and the yang, we’re yin and yang. Right I get that. I love that phrase because, specifically for entrepreneurs, we forget to play. It’s more of the forget, not the reward for me. And we forget to play because we’ve earned so much, we’ve gone through some mental challenges to get to where we are and it was it’s all like, was it? If it’s all work and no play, jack, it makes. 

Jace: 10:03

Jack, a dull boy right. 

Kristelle: 10:06

I’ve seen a lot of folks in my life constantly work and not be able to play and not be able to have fun. That to me it’s motivating. That motivation that gets you through the Sunday scaries, the Mondays and the difficult week, the Wednesday as of the middle of the week. It gets you through difficult times. So to me that’s a motivational piece. It’s like it’s not a goal per se, it’s a reminder like please play once in a while, please work hard and please contribute, and if you do play and if you do have fun, whether, as long as it’s not destructive, have a great time, because life is too goddamn short, Life is way too much I want a story on that before like you’re saying the same thing, where it’s like you know, it’s the motivation, like, oh, get through the tough week and all stuff. 

Jace: 11:00

So once we do that, then we have fun. I’m talking about fun being part of every day, because it’s equally as important, so that’s still a priority. Or like, why do we stop having fun? A lot of us because we’ve put our value in work. We’ve prioritized it because we think we have to be contributing, we have to be productive all the time. That was me I went through and I saw this the other day. It was like happy workaholics day and like no, that’s a very legitimate area of addiction and compulsion where all of your worth and value and your value, your ability to get to exist, is based in what you’re producing and what you’re contributing. I’m like that’s a legitimate thing. That was an area for me that was very dangerous, wildly unhealthy, and so it’s like but for me, if I wasn’t producing something, if I wasn’t being productive in some way, I didn’t think I should be able to do a lot to be alive. It did not feel good at all. Like I got to a very unhealthy space where for me, like and this sounds so silly like I had to have fun. It was like a life or death situation. I needed to learn how to play as an adult. I actually had a friend who was super fun. We talked about different people on the team and I honestly had to go to her and I was so embarrassed and I go with humility and say, can you teach me how to play as an adult? And she was just like, yep, because she’s like I see you over there, like you need to calm down, you need to rest. And so we I learned to juggle, like we started doing all kinds of things Just to be silly and just have something light. Is this your playmate? She was We’ve lost touch, but she was so wonderful. Yeah, as an adult, I honestly had to learn how to play and I had to redefine fun, because the stuff that I was told was fun wasn’t fun for me anymore. And the stuff that we kind of see in society like I’m like, but I don’t actually like that, it’s not fun. 

Kristelle: 12:49

Yeah, I get that. You know I had to. I remember when I was in a relationship in my twenties and they said what are your hobbies? It was, and it was a medical exam, trying to make sure we’re not destructive, yeah, and I remember sitting there, going I go to the casino and I hang out with my dude and that’s it. Yeah, like I didn’t know, I felt so pathetic because I didn’t have a hobby or I didn’t have something that I could do for fun or whatever that might be. I’m 36 now. Is that how I am? I’m 36. You are Okay, good For another five months. 

Jace: 13:29

Is that what it is? 

Kristelle: 13:29

Okay, thanks, I don’t know what my birthday is until they posted on social media, but yeah, so I remember. If I looked at myself at 26, what was I doing? Absolutely nothing. I was working, barely working, and that’s it. Like I was the workaholic. I felt like I had to define myself as a professional by working all the time. I think we’ve talked about that. Right, you just did. And now I look at 36, like what’s the definition of fun for me? Sitting and watching a Marvel movie with my kid, even though we’ve seen Thor Ragnarok so many damn times, like it was such a good time sitting on the couch and just like watching it together. And then what was it? Playing golf, playing kickball, ballooning on the weekends, traveling. I said, oh my god, I actually know how to have fun. Now Look at you with all the hobbies. Yeah, it’s a little too much, a little expensive, but that’s okay. You know that’s why. But that’s what I think. What’s really fascinating about this topic is that it’s not exactly what you do. Like we’re not here to be like, hey, let’s all go ballooning. Now that’s not the case. It’s a really good time to sit and ask yourself like when’s the last time you had a moment where you said this is pure joy for me. Yeah, you know when this is pure joy and I have to remind myself a lot and I think a lot of my friends have to remind themselves a lot because they’re so used to the grind. 

Jace: 14:59

And we are taught that that is the most important thing, right? Like when you go we go networking or whatever they’re going to ask what do you do? They don’t ask what’s really fun in your life right now, like, what are you really excited about right now? Right. 

Kristelle: 15:14

If you did ask somebody that they’d be like am I on a dating site? I do ask people those things, oh yeah. 

Jace: 15:19

Yeah, I’m not walking up to someone. I mean, like, what do you do? Like, give me your little spiel. Like, no, yeah, I’ll be like what’s really fun in your week right now? What are you really looking forward to? And they do, they’re like I don’t know how to end. I have my little like and I do this. 

Kristelle: 15:34

And like yeah, they’re just like no. 

Jace: 15:35

And then they’re kind of like, oh cool, yeah, let’s do this, instead Like let’s not. I just had that other conversation 16 times on what I do, oh, yeah. Or I’ll say what do you love about what you do? Yeah, like, give me something else. These generic conversations, they’re not fun for me. I don’t want to do them right, but I love you saying like pausing down. It’s so funny. When I work with people around self mastery, they will be willing to do the hardest things possible going and looking at their trauma, doing inner child work, looking at their belief systems. You got it, we’ll do it. Sign it, no problem. When the fun component comes up, it is the hardest thing. Yeah, I can’t tell you like how much pushback comes with the fun piece. One, because we’re taught it’s not important. And two, it’s so uncomfortable literally mentally, physically and emotionally uncomfortable to go from that work, work, work, work, work which we’re in a chronic stress response to pause. The internal chemistry gets totally thrown off. And then it’s so uncomfortable. What do we do? Work, we go, work. I remember so you said in the last episode when you asked like what I was surprised about somebody commenting on for me, and I said when they told me I was fun. Yeah, I was at a point where I remember this so well. It was like a wake up moment for me. It was 2015, 2016,. And I was working a full-time job, I was in recovery, full-time, I was starting a business and I was producing a documentary. My God, the girl was busy and I was dating someone. He literally would just come over at like 11 o’clock at night and we’d hang out for 10 minutes and then go to sleep together. That was my super cool relationship. That’s all I had time for, and so at one point, he was like this is not working for me. Shocker, right, I need time with you if this is gonna be your relationship. So I was like all right, 4th of July is coming up, I will take the whole day off. How? 

Kristelle: 17:33

good, did you do? How good did you do on that? 

Jace: 17:38

So, all right, I think he stayed over the night before or came over the morning because we were gonna have a whole day of stuff, right, I had so much anxiety from not working. I kept picking fights all morning until finally he left and I immediately went to work. Yeah, and none of this was conscious, right, I can look back and yeah, and he finally got super pissed. He left and so much relief came over me because then I could go jump back on my computer and work. Oh no, yeah, it was bad and I had very few relationships in my life. Luckily I had someone who would tell me like it is and he called me out on it, yeah, and he was like listen to the story you just told me. And I was like, oh, I have a problem, like this is a legit, affecting my life in a big way problem. But the actual physical anxiety I felt from pausing and trying to have fun was overwhelming. I couldn’t handle it. 

Kristelle: 18:36

Yeah, there was a book. I will that moment right, the oh shit moment. 

Jace: 18:43

I kind of learned to juggle or something. 

Kristelle: 18:45

Yeah, like, not like physically they’re not juggling not like life juggling no, I was juggling life. 

Jace: 18:51

I mean, they’ll pick up some balls and actually get them in the air. Yeah. 

Kristelle: 18:56

The thought that I had in my head was when, when I first met Spencer, he had told me about a life situation and he said I learned to not to stop giving a shit. And that really spoke to me, because when he gave me that, I learned there was a book called the Art of Not Giving Art of not giving a fuck. I actually haven’t read the book, I wrote like the Cliff Notes version. It really did help right, it really did make a transformational move to say I need to stop and smell the roses once in a while. 

Jace: 19:28

They literally made fun of me for that the other day when we were volunteering for For Polly’s Run. 

Kristelle: 19:35

Polly’s Run, which is a fundraiser for pancreatic cancer research. They made fun of you because you stopped the roses. 

Jace: 19:40

We were going to our volunteer station and we’re walking down the street and there were these, all these beautiful roses, and I’m like, so I stopped and I said, and they just started laughing, ed and Julia, and they’re like are you literally stopping to smell? 

Kristelle: 19:51

the roses right now. 

Jace: 19:52

And I was like yes. 

Kristelle: 19:54

Oh my God, I went there and they tease me about it. 

Jace: 19:56

In the team meeting on Monday they were like I get a hold of this. She actually stops to smell the roses and I’m like you’ve got to. 

Kristelle: 20:02

Yes, I would have. Where was I for this Cause? I would have defended you and said that’s not cool. 

Jace: 20:05

You would have been right there with me. Oh, my God, I did the exact same thing. 

Kristelle: 20:09

So we had a team retreat. Our team was much smaller back in 2016. And we went to San Diego and Danielle, like, looked at this beautiful birds of a what the hell’s the name of that? 

Jace: 20:20

Paradise. 

Kristelle: 20:21

Birds of paradise and, well, birds of a feather. 

Jace: 20:23

Baby flocking together. That’s how you’re. That. That’s all I know. 

Kristelle: 20:27

So we were okay. We have a lot of fun as a team. 

Jace: 20:30

We were totally wasted totally wasted, which is not a requirement, by the way. Just I’m going to put the disclaimer out there. It’s not necessary. 

Kristelle: 20:38

We didn’t eat and we had like no, we were the only people that would like to cook and nobody brought enough shit for dinner. And then we started drinking, and that’s when it all went down. And so she sees this like birds of paradise and she stops to smell it. I’m like, oh, this is fun, but I was like two sheets to the wind, so I pulled the damn flower out of the ground for her. Oh, my. Cause I said this is great. She wants it, so I’m like going to be the good leader that I am just kill this thing, left it in the freezer up until the end of the trip. There you go, but we had so much fun like thinking about the fact that you know she wanted something, so I did my best, just do what you got to do to make it happen. Stupid, it’s so stupid. But no, like I can. I can relate to the flowers, like where? When was the last time? So here’s a perfect example to kind of bring it all back together when was the last time you actually looked at the sky and said that was a really good one? I went to. I’m not a religious person. I just recently went through our wedding classes in the Catholic church, right, and you know, being in touch with God is a big thing about it. And I thought about the moment where I said what, at what points in my life do I, do I actually talk to God? I believe in the Catholic place, I believe in God. So I feel like this is relevant, right, and one of my my bachelor’s is actually at a Baptist university and in the preacher, the Baptist instructor said sometimes I look at the sunrise or I look at the sky and I see those rays of light. And when I see those rays of light, I say that’s a good one, god. So what was the last time we’ve ever said that and looked at the sky and said that’s pretty good. 

Jace: 22:21

I actually did that on Monday. 

Kristelle: 22:24

Right, that’s what we knew, and we knew Mexico. 

Jace: 22:26

Because you can’t. The sunsets here are incredible. I’ve done a fair amount of traveling. Sorry world. New Mexico is where it’s at for the sunsets 100% amen yeah and I realized I was seeing it and I thought, and so my, my comment would be well played, nature, well played or well done, that’s a good one. Yeah, capital in nature, god, spirit, universe, goddess, whatever we want to call it. I was saying well done, nature. And I realized like, oh, I hadn’t seen a sunset in a while, oh yeah. And so I was like it was like mental note yeah, it’s been over 100 degrees for I don’t know how many days in a row. Girl is not outside that often right now, which is a problem for me because a lot of my fun happens outside. Oh yeah. But yeah, monday I looked and I was like, ok, I see you, I see you, well done. And then I was like, all right, get out and look at more sunsets, jace, yeah. 

Kristelle: 23:20

Yeah, I think. Well, some people think fun is expensive. Sometimes that’s a conversation that a lot of people have Right Fun can or fun has to be destructive. Yeah, we have these silly. 

Jace: 23:35

Yeah, these six things are fun, and I, well, my most fun is traveling, and I can’t do that right now. I’m broke and I’m like that’s it. That’s your one, yeah, and I’m like do you know how many things I can come up with in one minute’s time that could still relate to traveling and cost no money? Yeah, I’m like that’s silly. So why are we talking about? How do you define fun or describe it, and how did you come to discover what is fun for you now, at this stage in your life? 

Kristelle: 24:06

I think that oof. I know that folks make a decision not to be in relationships. They want to be single, they want to be themselves, they want to be independent. Some people say I don’t want to have kids. That’s my choice. My son reminds me of fun all the time he’s in this age of I’m a pissed off teenager, yeah. 

Jace: 24:32

Also just known as a teenager, is he? 

Kristelle: 24:35

Yeah, yup, he also is the reminder of fun for me because he sees things almost very purely but also corrupted, thanks to Reddit, cool, thank you internet, thank you internet. And he reminds me of fun a lot the joy I remember. One of my favorite pictures of him that was a perfect reminder of fun it’s on my Instagram was when he found the sprinkler head in the backyard of my parents’ house once and he was like a little puppy in the middle, like yeah. 

Jace: 25:17

Exactly what I did. I watched puppies with sprinklers oh my god they can’t figure it out. 

Kristelle: 25:20

They can’t figure it out, it’s so cute, and that’s exactly what he did. He was just like ha, and then the kid laughter. I died. And that was, I think, when he was like two. That’s when I said to myself now I had a rough custody situation, him and I didn’t. We didn’t get to raise him until he was eight. When Spencer came into my life, when he moved, my son had moved down, but when he started to be around, that was always the reminder of fun. Like going to class, field trips was a big thing for me, like enjoying the fun element, or seeing how happy he was whenever he would get something Granted. He would put it away or forget the fact that he had it in the first place, sure, but for that moment that the joy of a child reminds you of fun, at least for me it does. 

Jace: 26:07

Yeah, I love that. I try to be an adult that exemplifies fun to my nieces. I’m really worried that they’ll have because we’re busy and we’re doing the things and we’re adulting in its life and nobody’s ever like oh, I really adulted today and I take that to mean they went to Hinkle Family Fun Center for Laser Tag. Adulting is responsibilities and whatever. 

Kristelle: 26:27

Oh my god, you took a laser T-Mugs, attack the laser tag, laser tag very seriously. 

Jace: 26:31

I got certificate of being number one at my desk. Thank you very much. I love laser tags. So I don’t want them to think that adulthood is only work and that it becomes dreary and that it’s dull. So I make sure I’m intentionally silly and playful around my nieces, to the point of completely embarrassing them, but just owning it, like the other day we were right across the street at Trombino’s and I don’t know how this started where we were walking as crabs on our way out. Oh yeah, that’s fine. Uh-huh yeah, because it’s a ridiculous thing to do. Yeah. And they realized so one is seven, one is nine. And then they became conscious of the fact that there were other people in the restaurant watching us walk like crabs, and not in a fun way, right, like they’re. Like what are these people doing? So they gave up. They didn’t want to walk like crabs anymore because they felt like they were being judged. Oh yeah. And so, as awkward as it was and as long as it took to get out, I just continued walking like a crab the entire time, and then they started giving me a beating. I’m like I’m not going to give up now That’d be even weirder and I’m like just own it and be a crab and walk all the way through. Yeah, just walk, yeah. And then I’m like I guess I’m not Because I want them to see like, being an adult, you can be silly, you can be playful, absolutely. We’re big on pranks in my family. Oh Lord, we’re like I love pranks, yeah, and so we try to do that and show them like it’s fun I dance, I sing, we were at summer fest and just like being goofy and shaking it out and things like that. I really it’s sad that we get to a point where we think like now we’re not kids anymore, it’s time to put away childish things. And then you grow up, and growing up means no fun, right? Yeah, that’s dumb, yeah, as an adult, we have agency over our fun. We actually get to choose what we want to have as fun. We get to plan. Fun Like adults is more fun when we let it be. Yeah, yeah. 

Kristelle: 28:34

I fear for the people that say getting older is scarier. Because, yeah, I’m like. No, the older and the wiser and the less bucks you give, of course it’s going to be more fun for you to be older. 

Jace: 28:44

I’ve only gotten cooler, yeah, and more fun, yeah. I’m loving myself now. That’s great. 

Kristelle: 28:49

Yeah. 

Jace: 28:50

I was like this is only getting better. 

Kristelle: 28:51

So there was actually a time there still is a time right now, where I actually encourage people to see me as me, which is a fun person, instead of professional crystal. So perfect example the hot air ballooning community Albuquerque, I know right. 

Jace: 29:08

You’re like immediately onesies, like I’m immediately picturing you, you get it Right away. 

Kristelle: 29:12

Yeah, because so the hot air ballooning community is huge in Albuquerque. It is the world’s greatest ballooning community. 

Jace: 29:21

Definitely we top a lot of charts, but usually in things like DUI and teen pregnancy. 

Kristelle: 29:25

So let’s do it. Hot air balloons number one For sure. So those beautiful fluffy federal aircrafts. 

Jace: 29:34

So a fluffy federal aircraft pilot like that’s how I’d like that described now. 

Kristelle: 29:39

So we, so I started to go. I used to work for the public relations team that would help out with balloon fiesta. Many moons ago and during the pandemic, I decided, hey, I’m bored, the company’s quiet, but it also is just not rolling? 

Jace: 29:59

Yeah, it’s rolling. 

Kristelle: 30:00

So let me get into another craft. So I learned two major hobbies that added more fun in my life golfing and hot air ballooning. Golfing definitely paid off on my relationship. Hot air ballooning he wants nothing to do with it because he have to wake up really early in the morning, but it’s helped you develop other relationships as well. 

Jace: 30:16

Phenomenal relationships yeah. 

Kristelle: 30:17

So I did this very methodically. It was really funny. I said if there’s one community that doesn’t know who I am, it’s the hot air ballooning community. And I was right New, nobody, yeah, had no connections. Completely new community said oh, this is even more exciting because I get to really push myself on my comfort zone. Love it, you know, I love to do that. And so I said I’m gonna have fun with this, especially since I have people don’t really know who I am. So I walked in. I purposely didn’t drive my Camaro. I have a 2014 Camaro, baby Camaro, like lower bottom tier, cheap switch. 

Jace: 30:53

It’s actually just a hot wheels that she has on her desk and she calls it her Camaro, exactly. 

Kristelle: 30:57

Yeah, so brought the hot wheels out, right, and I did not bring the hot wheels out, so I used my fiance’s car and just Subaru, right, and it’s a perfect off-roading vehicle. Way better to chase in than a Camaro anyways, absolutely. So bring the Camaro out. And then you know T-shirts, jeans, like I normally dress. And then after a while you know it’s cold. I started wearing onesies out and everybody’s like, ha ha, it’s Crystal, she wears the onesies. So they’re like who’s Crystal? Like you know the ones who? 

Jace: 31:29

where’s the onesies? 

Kristelle: 31:31

Depending on who you ask around here, like who’s Crystal, you know, the CEO, the executive director or whoever that is and I was like yeah, yeah, I’m gonna be known as the chick who wears the onesies when she cruises. My tail wags whenever the van goes off, right, and then after a while, I also I’ll never forget Balloon Fiesta. Last year we got grounded, meaning we weren’t able to fly because of a technicality, and Albuquerque National Balloon Fiesta has over 500 balloons and the fact that you can’t fly during Balloon Fiesta sucks if you can’t. Granted, there was like weird weather. So we’re sitting there and our pilots pissed because of the reason why we couldn’t fly, and then our his son, who was the other pilot, was pissed because he couldn’t fly and I said, fuck it, we’re gonna have fun today. So special shapes rodeo day and special shapes rodeo days where the funky shapes got to inflate and it’s the crowd pleaser right, there always seems to be a crowd pleaser Love the bees. But I said, why do special shapes have to be just the hotter balloons? You bet your ass. Crystal was out there with a friend’s shark costume inflated with the little fan, and my friend was the T-Rex. We were special shapes ourselves that day. You know what the fuck that part was. Because I’m so little, I’m only five feet tall. People are like oh look, it’s baby shark. I was like. I was like, just because I’m short, you’re calling me baby shark. Like that’s not nice. That was so much fun. That is fun and you never expect. And the nice part about it, too is people are like who is that? They’re like oh, it’s Crystal. You’re like what the fuck? And then the ballooning community started to figure out who I was. They were starting to realize oh, she’s got the connections to XYZ. 

Jace: 33:16

Everybody. 

Kristelle: 33:17

Everybody. I really appreciate that people are associating me to fun in the hot air ballooning community because they’re associating me with that one chick that always wears the onesies. 

Jace: 33:26

Yeah, and it’s a more well-rounded piece of you Because, yeah, you’re really good at business. You’re an incredible connector and you have a weird ability to see into the truth of who someone is and then help champion them into that Within. Like nope, that was a statement. That is what I have witnessed you doing. I appreciate it. You’re going to be doing awesome things and you’re going to be silly and you’re going to take us out to do laser tag and you’re going to do all of those things because you’re a full person and that makes, in my mind, more interesting. That’s success when you can be that whole person. 

Kristelle: 34:02

Yeah, you have a very good point, I appreciate it. 

Jace: 34:05

You’re like, oh god, I’m so uncomfortable and you bring up something really really great, and so I talk about finding the fun and that’s you went. Okay, this situation got unfunned really quickly, where we had an idea of what we wanted. We were pilots and we wanted to fly our balloons that we put all this effort into, and then that didn’t happen. A lot of people would just be very grumpy and just stay in that oh, they were, oh, yeah, we’re going to be in the victim mentality of like this happened to us and blah, blah, blah, blah, and now the rest of the day is ruined, right, or the whole fiesta is ruined, or whatever. When you went nope, we came for fun. How can we shift to continue having fun? So I always talk about, like, find the fun. How could this be more fun, even if it already is fun? How could it be more fun? How could I say this in a way that is more fun for me? How can I interact in this? Okay, like a networking situation, like I was talking about, how could I do that in a way that’s more fun for me? Well, what if I started asking different questions? What if I started like, and having that curiosity around? Fun specifically is an amazing way and a really easy way to bring fun into our day to day when we don’t have to wait for? oh, I have this big trip coming up in October, so I’m gonna have fun then. It’s like no daily fun, weekly fun, big fun, planned fun finding the fun Finding it even in the moment. 

Kristelle: 35:20

right Like, you brought up a really phenomenal point and I think your gift is really re-centering in the self-discovery work that you do, not only for yourself, but also for the people around you, as we say, climbing down the ladder after you know being in that position, and I think what’s really great about you is you use that as a way. There’s a lot of people that are stuck in the definition of things and you redefined it for yourself, for the people around you, like you said, helping them really rediscover what that actually is. People don’t have a guide like that in their life. 

Jace: 35:56

We do need more fun guides just to teach and that sounds dumb. Like to teach people to have fun, but we honestly need it. 

Kristelle: 36:04

We need it in America. We need a fun guide. Do we have that as? 

Jace: 36:07

another business. If you’re interested in hiring a fun guide today, call the number on your screen. Info at CRS of Dunnex. 

Kristelle: 36:13

Yeah, like that. 

Jace: 36:14

We do and also to recognize so we talk about. I always I love the brain, I love the body, I love how all of those things operate to have us be successful, and the brain and body are often left out of the conversation around success as well. Guess where you’re operating from? It’s gonna be real important. And those systems are designed to have fun and play incorporated, not just when we’re young, Like we see animals out in the wild. Let’s say, a wildebeest gets chased by a lion and does not get eaten. What does it do? It jumps, it dances, it spins around, it plays. 

Kristelle: 36:49

I was like I don’t remember the last time I watched National Geographic Just go and watch your nearest wildebeest being chased by a lion. 

Jace: 36:55

They play because it actually re-regulates the body so that we’re moving into our rest and digest system instead of that stress, one which makes everything else work better. And then we cut that out of our lives and then it seems silly that we don’t do those things and instead we’re storing all of that stress, all of those emotions, and then they turn into disease, they turn into illness, they turn into all of these different things within the body, simply because we’re not playing. It’s super important and we don’t stop learning through play either. Right, we get it like when you’re kids, you incorporate play to learn. Yeah, that actually doesn’t stop. So we’re not only making a less cool life by being just like I don’t learn all the time and then you know it’s not just like. Fun is absolutely a crucial ingredient for success, thriving health and happiness, all the way down to how ourselves respond to things. 

Kristelle: 37:53

It’s great we wrap up A very great way to talk about the future of how much fun this has been on stories, success and stuff. This has been so much fun to always put together. Thank you for an exceptional job of today’s topic and, most importantly, thank you to the listener, the viewer, the supporter and mom. Thank you, mom, for making this so fun for all of us here at CRs and to put together stories and success and stuff. Don’t forget to subscribe on your favorite streaming platform and don’t forget to subscribe on YouTube. Thanks, that’s all for my new series. Thanks for watching.