Don’t Grow Up! It’s a Trap!

Sometimes I really feel like being swept away be Peter and fly off to Neverland. To stay a playful child forever and not having to worry about grownup problems.

But whenever I find myself wishing to go, I have to remind myself that everyday life is filled with bits and pieces of Neverland. All you have to do is look for it. There might not be any faerie dust around that’ll make you fly, but how incredible is it that we can actually step inside of a massive piece a metal and fly away?!

You might not be able to live inside of a giant tree, but you could climb one, or make yourself a treehouse. Or you could travel to the most unique places and live in places that would’ve never crossed your mind!

You will not stay young forever, but you do have an option when it comes to growing up. It’s important to make grownup decisions from time to time, but that doesn’t mean that you have to stop playing! It doesn’t mean that you have to quit goofing around, dance whenever you feel like it, go for rides, get new friends, roll around in the grass (preferably with a puppy… or ten!), have sleepovers and go on adventures!

When was the last time you went for a walk and got lost for a while? When was the last time you went to a pajama party? And when was the last time you laughed so hard, you literally thought you were going to piss your pants?

If you can’t remember when, then I challenge you to do something about it!

I constantly remind myself to not take things too seriously, to play and to have fun. It’s not always easy, especially if you get yourself wrapped up in all the news. It can be hard to find things to make one smile when everyone talks about how the world is crumbling. I totally get it, and I too struggle with it from time to time. But like everything else, it becomes easier with practice. Practice and a good dose of zero fucks given at times.

Be a grownup when you have to be, but find your inner child whenever you have the opportunity to do so. Look at the world as a child discovers it. Marvel at its beauty! Be moved by sunsets and the depth of a pair of stranger’s eyes.

So today’s post is just a little reminder for you all to enjoy the life you have! You don’t know how long it’ll last or what’s going to happen tomorrow, so make the most out of today!

Have fun!

Don’t grow up! It’s a trap!

I was thinking about childish things..

There is something so utterly magical about how the minds of children work. And being one of them who’s (hopefully) going to be a child at heart for the rest of my days I find it particularly sad whenever I meet someone who doesn’t remember what it was like to be a child. To play and use ones imagination to the fullest and not caring if it didn’t make sense to anyone else.

I believe that writers (like myself) can easily access that door into their own childlike mind. Maybe it is that we partly just refuse to grow up completely. Because who would ever want to do that?

I’m not saying that being an adult doesn’t have its advantages. But there really isn’t much that can top that adventurous bliss of childhood. I would easily trade every party for the opportunity to climb that tree that touched the sky for the first time again. To explore the forest behind my mother’s house and look for treasures. To dream about what my life would be when I grew up before I even knew what being a grown up meant. To look at the world as my own and packed with the possibility to become anything I could ever dream of and never care about any form of limitation.

I could be the best unicorn rider in the universe. I could travel to any planet at anytime. I would learn to fly and to breathe under water. To talk to animals and shift into any shape. Tame dragons and be the greatest heroine of our time.

The possibilities were endless!

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I still dream of all those things! And the greatest part is that I partly get to make them come true every single day. Liar, you say? No no! Let me tell you how.

I read and I write. 

This is my escape from the obligations, the bills and the boring parts of being a grown up. I get to be a child (yet again) every single day, if I want to! I can discover the wonderful universes created by others or I can make up my own. A place where I decide the rules and where I can explore everything for the first time just as I did with that forest behind our house.

I could never imagine myself a life without the possibility to enjoy this kind of imaginative escapes. And that is one of the things that I definitely wish for my son. For him to enjoy being a child for as long as he possibly can. To find the joy in reading books and making up his own stories and universes through storytelling and play. To allow himself to be childish even as he’s venturing into adulthood. To dare to dream and make his own future no matter how impossible it may feel at times.

There is so much joy in keeping your inner child alive. To stay creative and to explore.

Let’s run out there into our well known world as if it was completely new to us. Explore it and see it with childish eyes.

Come on! I dare you 🙂 

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