Boil life right down to its constituent parts and what are you left with? Birth, death and that’s about it. They’re the certainties.

Of course, in between those two there’s a whole world of possibilities. Love. Swimming. Sex. Broken legs. A holiday in Corfu. Pretty much anything you can think of. It’s a blank canvas. You choose. Not your parents. Not your partner. You choose. It’s your birth and it’s your death, so you should get to choose the pieces in between.

Now then, this is all leading somewhere. And it’s leading to something called Fun. Fun is what should be happening in between. Pure, thrilling fun. Some days it might feel a bit more like got-to-get-up-and-catch-the-bus fun. But it should still be fun. Because you can decide what is and can be fun.

Bus rides? Massive f**king fun. Really. I mean, there you are, riding around at great speed in a big metal box. That is fun. Love. That’s fun. Swimming. That’s insane fun. Broken legs. Well, you get crutches and people writing dumb stuff on your cast. Fun.

The point is, the only person who can make things fun is you. Not your teachers. Not your friends. Not your boss. You.

You have a duty to make it fun. Even when times are hard and the light gets dark. If you don’t, you’ll just get born and then you’ll die.

And that is no fun.

Words: Dan Germain

Illustration: Eric Ellis