Getting Out Of The Lazy Boy Pays Off

Your comfort zone feels like safe protection—until you realize it is secretly starving your life of joy.

Most high-performers and busy adults fall into a predictable, dangerous routine: as years stack up, they trade spontaneous play for structured comfort. They stay parked in the recliner, overanalyze the effort required to go out, and let old, disempowering memories dictate what they can handle. But retreating into safety doesn't protect your energy; it shrinks your world. You end up viewing life as a spectator, carrying decades-old stories that trigger anxiety or nausea before you even step onto the field, entirely forgetting what it feels like to abandon control and have an unscripted, effing blast.

In this nostalgic, laugh-out-loud episode of the Living Lucky® Podcast, Jana and Jason recap their annual trip back to Belleville, Kansas for the Kansas Free Fair and dirt-track midget races. From analyzing the muddy beer gardens and rigged carnival games to confronting Jason’s 35-year-old motion sickness anchor from Six Flags, they pull back the curtain on how adult perspective alters everything. Together, they demonstrate why scheduling unrefined play isn't optional—it is the ultimate requirement for a high-vibrational life.

Inside:

• The Adult Perspective Shift: How returning to your hometown transforms simple fair exhibits from "stuff to look at" into a deep appreciation for rural craftsmanship, daily labor, and livelihood.
• The 1980s Mindbender Anchor: A clinical look at how Jason's childhood roller coaster trauma hardcoded a physical motion sickness loop that still fires decades later.
• The Rigged Carnival Tax: The hilarity of hauling massive stuffed animals across triple-digit heat and muddy beer gardens just to make memories with family.
• The Recliner Inertia Trap: Why the human brain naturally defaults to the "lazy boy comfort zone" as it ages—and the exact choice required to push past resistance.
• The Effing Blast Protocol: Why unscripted fun must be deliberately scheduled, protected, and executed if you want to maintain long-term energy and fulfillment.

Stop letting disempowering memories and comfortable recliners dictate your life's capacity. If you are ready to leave your comfort zone, break old psychological anchors, and remember how to have an absolute blast, hit play now.

Listen to the audio, watch the official video broadcast, subscribe, and tell us the last time you chose pure fun.

NUGGETS

• Fun must be scheduled, not postponed. As adults, spontaneous play disappears unless you intentionally put it on the calendar and push past initial resistance.
• Old memories create physical anchors. A single intense experience—like getting bent over a coaster bar as a kid—can train your brain to expect motion sickness decades later.
• Perspective transforms appreciation. Age shifts your view from consuming entertainment to honoring the skill, patience, and daily labor behind craftsmanship and agricultural life.
• The comfort zone is a gilded cage. The older you get, the easier it is to stay in the recliner, but real vitality lives on the other side of minor physical discomfort.
• Unscripted moments create social glue. Rigged games, muddy tracks, and spontaneous reunions with old friends provide the emotional capital that sustains high performance.
• why county fairs feel different as adults
• overcoming motion sickness mindset anchors
• how to leave your comfort zone and have fun
• why adults stop scheduling fun and play
• hometown nostalgia and perspective shifts
• belleville Kansas free fair dirt track races
• how childhood roller coaster trauma causes motion sickness
• shifting perspective on livestock agricultural craftsmanship
• why do adults prefer staying in comfort zone
• how to break old subconscious anchors from youth
• importance of play and fun for high performers
• dealing with fair food and funnel cake nostalgia
• how to force yourself out of the recliner and play

Questions:

Why do county fairs and hometown traditions feel different to adults compared to children? County fairs feel different to adults because maturity shifts focus from passive consumption to deep appreciation. While children view livestock, quilts, and rides as simple entertainment, adults recognize the years of craftsmanship, agricultural labor, financial responsibility, and daily discipline required to create them. This elevates the experience from mere spectacle to a celebration of community livelihood and skill.

How can a past traumatic memory cause chronic motion sickness in adults? A traumatic past memory can trigger physical motion sickness through a mechanism known as a psychological anchor or conditioned response. If an intense early event (such as being trapped on a violent roller coaster) pairs fear and physical disorientation, the brain hardcodes the association. In adulthood, merely thinking about or seeing a carnival ride reactivates the Reticular Activating System (RAS) and autonomic nervous system, generating real physical symptoms like nausea.

Why is it necessary for adults to intentionally schedule time for fun? It is necessary for adults to intentionally schedule fun because evolutionary biology and aging bias the brain toward energy conservation and risk avoidance (the "comfort zone"). Without deliberate scheduling, daily responsibilities, routine, and fatigue take priority, causing individuals to postpone play indefinitely. Scheduling forces a cognitive pattern interrupt that overcomes initial resistance, restoring psychological resilience and joy.

• Motion Sickness & Tilt-a-Whirls: Why carnival rides hit different as an adult Jana and Jason launch the studio session fresh off their trip to Belleville, Kansas. Discover why stepping onto a spinning carnival ride forces an adult brain to reassess its stomach parameters.
• The Kansas Free Fair & Dirt Track Races: Returning to small-town roots Reflecting on the mud, speed, and roar of small-car dirt racing. Learn how returning to your hometown provides a clear mirror showing who you used to be versus who you are today.
• Seeing the Fair Grounds with Adult Eyes: Craftsmanship, livestock, and labor Jana tracks how her perspective evolved from seeing cows as "cute animals" to recognizing farm livelihoods, and seeing quilts and bread displays as true hand-executed mastery.
• The 1980s Mindbender Coaster Anchor: The 8-year-old trauma that rewired Jason Jason recounts a harrowing childhood ride at Six Flags. Learn how getting pinned upside down created a 35-year physical motion sickness anchor that still fires today.
• Breaking the Anchor: Why the inner kid still wants to get on the ride Jana describes watching fairgoers take photos as she boarded rides in her wheelchair. Discover how pushing past old fears honors the internal child that still craves adventure.
• Overcoming Recliner Inertia: Fighting the magnetic pull of the comfort zone Jana confesses her pre-event resistance to getting dressed and leaving her parents' air-conditioned recliner. Discover why comfort zones grow stronger with age unless deliberately broken.
• The Main Takeaway: Schedule your fun or watch your world shrink. Wrapping up with the ultimate Living Lucky® takeaway: unscripted fun requires intentional scheduling, courage, and a willingness to step onto the field to have an effing blast.

🏷️ county fair nostalgia, breaking old anchors, comfort zone trap, scheduling fun for adults, motion sickness mindset, hometown perspective shift, the four-minute formula, living lucky frameworks

Transcript

Why Rides Make Us Queasy

Jana Shelfer 0:00

Why is it that every time I get on a tilt whirl, I smell a little bit puke?

Jason Shelfer 0:04

It's because people like me think it looks so fun on the outside, and then when I get inside it, I get a little motion sickness.

Heading Back To The County Fair

Jana Shelfer 0:10

We're talking about the county fair today. When was the last time you stopped to have a little fun? I'm Jana. I'm Jason. And we are Living Lucky®. You are too. We just got back from our vacation. We went to Belleville, Kansas to the county fair. The Kansas Free Fair.

Jason Shelfer 0:46

And the races.

Jana Shelfer 0:48

Oh, yes, the midget races. And I'm not being politically incorrect.

Jason Shelfer 0:52

No, you're not.

Jana Shelfer 0:52

They're really called the midget races.

Jason Shelfer 0:54

There are small cars that race really fast around a dirt track.

Jana Shelfer 0:57

I'm not talking about small people. I'm talking about small cars.

Jason Shelfer 1:01

Although, were they mid- They are small cars that race incredibly fast around a dirt track.

Jana Shelfer 1:06

It's a like a mile track, and dirt comes and covers you. And for some reason, when I was little, I thought this was so cool. Of course. Now that I'm a little bit when you're a kid. I'm not sure it's my favorite thing, but I do like to go and see all of the people that I grew up with.

Jason Shelfer 1:25

Right? There is something about coming back to your small to your town and being around the people that you grew up with.

Seeing The Fair With New Eyes

Jana Shelfer 1:33

I will say though, my perspective has changed a little bit.

Jason Shelfer 1:38

Does the fair get smaller the the older you go or the bigger you get?

Jana Shelfer 1:41

I don't know. I will just say my perspective has changed. You know, like I used to look at the the cows and the animals much differently. Now I see, oh, that's someone's livelihood.

Jason Shelfer 1:54

And I used to I look at it and say, that's someone's dinner.

Jana Shelfer 1:58

Of course you would. And I used to look at the quilts and the artwork, and you know how they have like the whole floral hall building. Yes. And I used to kind of think, okay, someone is someone made bread. Do you know what I'm saying? And now I'm like, wow, that's an art. Like that took time and skills.

Jason Shelfer 2:18

There's a deeper appreciation for what goes into it.

Jana Shelfer 2:21

Yes. And someone really, really has talent.

Jason Shelfer 2:25

Right. Right. It's not a big thing.

Jana Shelfer 2:27

Actually, can do things with their hands.

Jason Shelfer 2:30

Yes.

Jana Shelfer 2:31

And then, like, you know, funnel cake and things like that. I used to think, oh, that's so yummy. And now I'm like so bad for your hips.

Jason Shelfer 2:41

It is horrible for your hips. And I promised myself that this was going to be my year to get a funnel cake and I didn't get it.

Jana Shelfer 2:48

Good. That's probably supported.

The Rides That Trigger Old Memories

Jason Shelfer 2:53

I wanted funnel cake. I still want it.

Jana Shelfer 2:55

And of course, the rides. The rides.

Jason Shelfer 3:00

Why is it right now, just you saying ride just got me motion so I know because this is the power of our brains.

Jana Shelfer 3:08

I think the rides are always fun. Now, I know Nate Burgazi has this whole bit where he's like, you know, just three days ago, these rides ago they were all driving down the highway. And now we're on it and they're making, you can hear the bolts. Like you can hear the chains.

Jason Shelfer 3:25

You can hear it rattle.

Jana Shelfer 3:26

And we're on these rides thinking, oh, this is going in a circle at 90 miles an hour.

Jason Shelfer 3:32

It feels like it.

Jana Shelfer 3:33

I know you got sick.

Jason Shelfer 3:34

My eyes are starting to swirl right now as we're talking about it. Really? Which is really crazy. It was that bad, huh? You know, it's it's not. I think it's just it goes, it takes me back to when I was probably eight or nine and I rode the mind bender at Six Flags.

Jana Shelfer 3:50

I don't well, okay.

Jason Shelfer 3:52

That's a roller coaster, a wooden roller coaster that has two loops in it.

Jana Shelfer 3:56

Okay.

Jason Shelfer 3:56

That go upside down. And it and it bent me over the safety bar that went across the lap.

Jana Shelfer 4:01

Okay.

Jason Shelfer 4:02

And had my head basically.

Jana Shelfer 4:03

Whenever anyone says bend over, I'm like, Hello, Mr.

Jason Shelfer 4:06

Dover.

Jana Shelfer 4:08

I'm like, either I'm in trouble in the principal's office or I'm I'm in the bedroom. Right.

Jason Shelfer 4:14

Hello.

Jana Shelfer 4:17

No, no, no.

Jason Shelfer 4:18

So I w we were coming back from camp, um, Camp Rock Mont in North Carolina.

Jana Shelfer 4:22

Okay.

Jason Shelfer 4:23

And my grandfather was like, we're gonna go to Six Flags. Congratulations on your first summer at camp.

Jana Shelfer 4:30

Okay.

Jason Shelfer 4:31

And we went to Six Flags and we went on the mindbender.

Jana Shelfer 4:33

Oh.

Jason Shelfer 4:34

And I was thought it was gonna be the best thing in the world. I'd never been on a roller coaster.

Jana Shelfer 4:38

Yeah.

Jason Shelfer 4:39

We get on this roller coaster. The first loop puts my head between my legs. My stomach that has the bar, I'm bent over this bar. Yeah. And it feels like I'm kissing my own butt.

Jana Shelfer 4:52

Oh.

Jason Shelfer 4:52

And I can't, the G forces have me so bent under this seat that I can't get back up. And now I'm going into the second loop. Oh. And I just feel so sick at the end of it. Yeah.

Jana Shelfer 5:05

And the whole rest of the day, I just feel very like a very vivid memory.

Jason Shelfer 5:09

It is a very vivid memory. And now every time I get on a roller coaster or every time I get on a carnival ride of sorts or an amusement park ride, I get motion sickness.

Excitement Versus Motion Sickness

Jana Shelfer 5:20

So I I'm glad you're saying this. And I know you said that you verbalized this while we were there. I don't remember you verbalizing it out loud. Maybe you did. Maybe I was just so excited to get on it. However, well, that's what we went to the fair for. There was definitely a conflict there because there's also excitement around being around the rides. Yeah.

Jason Shelfer 5:43

And we were with the kid, the nephews and the nieces. And you know, there's and there's this kid in me that still wants to be on the rides.

Jana Shelfer 5:52

And I also, you know, people that watched me grow up, they were so excited that I was actually getting on a ride that they actually stopped and started taking photos of us. They're like, oh, Jana's unstoppable. She's getting on a ride, you know, even though she's in a wheelchair.

Jason Shelfer 6:12

And so it happens everywhere we go.

Jana Shelfer 6:14

So they're like taking photos of us and video of us getting on this ride. And so maybe I didn't hear you say you didn't want to do this. At any rate, I'm sorry about that.

Jason Shelfer 6:31

Well, the other part of that is it's okay.

Jana Shelfer 6:34

Okay.

Jason Shelfer 6:34

Like I got sick. I didn't vomit.

Jana Shelfer 6:37

It was not fun for Jason. Let's just say.

Jason Shelfer 6:40

But the the overall, like if we if we zoom out and look at the overall day, it was fun. It was great.

Jana Shelfer 6:47

Okay, so that part was not fun. That part was fun for me, though. I loved getting on the swings and actually getting to see the overall aerial view. Like that probably was my favorite.

Jason Shelfer 6:59

I saw nothing. Like literally. I had tunnel vision

Rigged Games And Giant Prizes

Jason Shelfer 7:04

the whole time I was.

Jana Shelfer 7:04

I will say one part that was not that much fun for me was when everybody wanted to play the games. You know, you give money. Right. And then you like shoot baskets into this small hoop, which I swear is rigged. Okay. And then no matter what happens, you get that dollar prize for the $5 entry for this stuffed animal that is so big, and then you have to carry it around.

Jason Shelfer 7:29

Or a goldfish. You get a goldfish.

Jana Shelfer 7:33

And you carry it around for the rest of the day. And for some reason, I always end up carrying it because I have a lap.

Jason Shelfer 7:41

Put it on Jana's lap.

Jana Shelfer 7:43

I'm in the beer gardens with this goldfish and this great big it was a stuffed banana, is what it was. It wasn't this one, but it was something like it.

Jason Shelfer 7:53

Ten times that size.

Jana Shelfer 7:54

Yes, this great big stuffed banana. I'm like, hey.

Jason Shelfer 7:56

Well, at least it wasn't 100 degrees. Oh, wait.

Jana Shelfer 7:59

It was. It was. And the beer gardens were all muddy and sandy, and it kept falling on the ground. Ah, fun.

Running Into Old Friends

Jana Shelfer 8:10

Fine vibe.

Jason Shelfer 8:11

We ran into so many friends.

Jana Shelfer 8:13

Yes.

Jason Shelfer 8:14

And they had traveled from all over the class of 91 was almost the whole class reunion.

Jana Shelfer 8:20

Yeah. I think 23 people were there, and I had so much fun talking to everyone. I will say, if you ever had a moment where you're like, oh, I really don't want to

Comfort Zone Versus Going Out

Jana Shelfer 8:35

go out tonight. I really don't want to get dressed. I really don't want to put on my makeup. I really don't want to curl my hair.

Jason Shelfer 8:40

If I had a nickel for every time I thought those stuff.

Jana Shelfer 8:42

I just don't want to leave the the recliner. Like I just was in my parents' lazy boy recliner. I was enjoying just in the air conditioning. Right?

Jason Shelfer 8:52

The ice water sitting right there on the little table next to you.

Jana Shelfer 8:55

And I don't know why it is, but as I get older, sometimes I just like being in the comfort zone.

Jason Shelfer 9:03

The comfort zone.

Jana Shelfer 9:04

It's the comfort zone.

Jason Shelfer 9:05

However, we define that.

Jana Shelfer 9:07

And sometimes when I just force myself to get out, I always have fun. I always have fun. And it's such a lesson because I came home from the fair, and what did I say?

Jason Shelfer 9:25

I had an effing blast.

Jana Shelfer 9:27

I had an effing blast. An effing blast. That's what I said.

Jason Shelfer 9:33

Yeah.

Jana Shelfer 9:34

I had an effing blast. And it just was such an eye-opener because the whole day I was like, oh, I really just want to stay at home. I just want to go to bed. And I and I was having my pajamas.

Jason Shelfer 9:51

This whole thought process in my head of I am excited to ride a ride. Like I was trying to to kind of boo myself up to get on a ride. Like get over this hump. Because one day, I swear, one day I will get on a ride and I won't get motion sickness.

Jana Shelfer 10:10

Because I know that So for you, this podcast is about a uh something a little different.

Jason Shelfer 10:14

It is. Well, and I'm sorry, but it's but it is one of these days I will get out of that comfort of being sick on a ride. Like or that that mindset of this is what's gonna happen and change that story.

The Real Lesson: Schedule Fun

Jana Shelfer 10:32

So I think the lesson is we don't take enough time for fun. We don't schedule it, we put it on the back burner, we get in our comfort zone.

Jason Shelfer 10:46

We don't take the chance of just seeing what might come out of this. What if we just take a chance, get out of our comfort zone, get out of that lazy boy, and get out there and see if we can go have an effing blast.

Jana Shelfer 11:05

Have an effing blast. Thanks for joining us.

Jason Shelfer 11:07

Keep Living Lucky®.

Jana Shelfer 11:08

Bye-bye.