Self Improvement?

Reading a library book, Julia Child Rules Lessons on Savoring Life by Karen Karbo.
Self improvement, popular in women's magazines, seems to be a path to happiness but the author suggests we should instead, learn to be amused. She goes on to note that, "Men have an easier time amusing themselves than women do. ..I don't know one woman who is as good at messing around as are all the men I know."
Julia Child seems to have been an exception. After college and the death of her mother, she spent years riding horses, playing golf, piano, drinking, and what she called "simmering."
Anyway, Julia Child couldn't, for the first part of her life, do much to change herself. Being a horsy 6 foot 3 kind of dominates one's place in society, and having loads of money doesn't change that. But so what? She barreled along with great enthusiasm until she found her love and her place.
How does this apply to dance? Can I make it more about messing around for the men? As for the women, going along is fun, and Dance & Stretch is self improvement.