I Don’t Have Fun Facts

I work in the corporate world. We love things like icebreakers at the beginning of an off-site meeting. If you’re going to be spending a day or multiple days with people, it is nice to get to know something about them and kick it off in a fun way.

This all sounds great. But the problem for me is that I can never come up with anything good.

The typical ice-breakers are things like two truths and a lie where you state two true things and one false and the group has to guess which is false. Or you share a couple of “fun facts” about yourself. Something of this nature.

I have no fun facts.

Or at least I feel like I have no fun facts.

It always floors me during these icebreakers the amazing things I learn about other people. People who speak multiple languages, who have traveled the world or have some amazing hidden talent.

Then it gets to be my turn.

You would think I would have something prepared knowing these moments will arise. I don’t. Instead, I sit there squirming with a totally blank mind.

You would think because I show up as more of an extrovert that I would be raising my hand to go first and would have some super interesting or exciting to share.

That has never been the case.

Here is what happened the last time I was in this situation. It’s important to share that the person right before me stated that they grew up going to a French immersion school and have now raised their kids to also speak the language. The person before her said he recently got his pilot’s license and someone else had recently proposed on a hot air balloon.

Those are all interesting things.

Then came my turn.

I said, “Well, I am a part time chauffeur because all I do after work is drive my kids’ places.”

In that moment, it felt like everyone gave this look of wow what a boring thing to decide to say. Many people have kids and do a lot of driving. No part of what I said would really be categorized as a fun fact.

In reality, I don’t think anyone judged my response. I know many relate to it and are in the same phase of life.

But I also know it wasn’t a fun fact. At least if I compared it to literally everyone else’s answers. How could I possibly be the only one that didn’t have something cool to share?

It got me thinking, was I selling myself short? Perhaps. After all, this AllMomDoes community I am blessed to be a part of is pretty cool. Why didn’t I share that?

I once ran a half marathon and hated it. Is that a fun fact?

As I continue racking my brain about any hobbies or interesting things about me, I realize that I am actually ok with the fact that I have not traveled the world, I have not competed in an Iron Woman contest, I only speak one language. I don’t really have the itch to do any of these things in this point in my life.

I am a full-time working mom of two busy kids. I typically wake up at 4:30am to either workout or get an early start on my work day. I enjoy watching my kids at games and swim meets. I also enjoy sitting on the couch online shopping or scrolling through TikTok. Sometimes I will meet girlfriends for dinner. Sometimes my husband and I will go on a date. I am getting better at saying no to things that I know will cause me to feel too stressed and overloaded.

I am guessing you can relate to this life. The mom life. I love this life. I know there are lots of moms who do all the things I do but also hike really big mountains or have visited every single state. Maybe that will be me one day. Probably not; but maybe.

I love my life and all that God has provided to me. If my future holds some sort of new talent that I will discover or if I suddenly get the travel bug, I welcome that. But for now, I am truly ok with my “fun facts” perhaps not wowing a crowd. I am challenging myself for the next time I am part of a work ice-breaker to not sell myself short and to be glad to share whatever tidbit I decide to about my life.

If you resonate with not having a ton of hobbies or “fun facts,” I challenge you to do the same. To not sell yourself short. Anything about you is interesting because you are unique. If you feel like all you need some sort of new hobby or to revive something you used to be passionate about, explore how you can make it happen. Outlets are important for everyone and certainly important for busy moms.

Mind blowing fun facts or more run of the mill fun facts, the point is to share with people something about yourself and to make connections. I will remind myself of this the next time I am squirming in my seat with a blank mind and my turn is coming up!

I Will Never Be a World Traveler

What If You Said No This Year?