Alicia Butler

At the beginning of 2020, I took a three-month trip to South America.

The previous winter, I’d spent three months in Mexico and had a wonderful time. I loved everything about Mexico City, where I spent most of my trip — the culture, the food, the people — and I was excited for a similar adventure in Argentina.

While my trip to Argentina didn’t go wrong (except for the emergency return flight I needed to schedule, thanks to COVID), I entered a deep depression that didn’t lift until (ironically) the pandemic was in full swing.

And let me tell you, it wasn’t a lack of fun and exciting activities that led to this depression. 

I ate my weight in steak, drank tons of wine, inhaled as much dairy as I could, stayed at a “once-in-a-lifetime” bougie hotel, went to the movies once a week, tried to instate a morning routine (surely it was because my morning lacked routine that the depression was so bad, right?), and wandered museums. 

Needless to say, it was hard to enjoy the “fun” when I was clearly ignoring the fact that I was going through something.

I wish I had spent those months just being okay with the fact that I wasn’t okay. Going through that really low time and feeling my feelings was how I eventually was able to derive joy from a lot of these pleasures I tried to pile on to make myself feel better.

Though I’ll never regret eating all that dairy. 

I created Good Fun as a place to visit when you’re just not feeling okay and remind yourself that there are others out there who don’t feel like their insides match their Instagrams all the time, too. But it’s also a place to remember that Big Feelings don’t last forever. And that it’s possible to feel small bits of relief — even during the worst days. 

And when you’re ready to find a little fun, I’ve got some fun-spiration to get you feeling all the feels.   

Good Fun is all about feeling good, prioritizing pleasure, and savoring life. But it’s also about moving through the not-so-good stuff, too.