Climb a Tree

I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the phrase- “I wish I was in kindergarten again” or “I wish I did not have to grow up.” Maybe I have even said this at one point or another. I am at that age where I want to be older, 21 to be exact, because my friends are moving towards that age and I am somewhat left behind for a little bit. The fact is, where ever we are in life, it seems no one is really happy where they are. Some want to be younger and some want to be older. In kindergarten we want to grow up so fast, but once we hit college, we wish we could stop growing up. It seems no one is ever where they want to be.

We create this divide between being an adult and being a kid. There are responsibilities as an adult but work and money are not the only important aspects of life as we get older. It is like we forget how to be a kid. We walk by a playground and watch a little girl on the monkey bars and say oh I wish I could do that. Why can’t we?

The problem with growing up is we think growing up means growing boring. That may be the case, but it does not have to be. Just because I am almost twenty does not mean I cannot jump in bouncy house or play on the jungle gym. I can still color and doodle on my days off and create bracelets I learned how to make at camp when I was seven.  

There is no reason I cannot create a fort in the living room I now pay for. There is no reason I cannot turn the music up loud and dance without any rules. There is no reason I cannot blow bubbles in my chocolate milk at a diner and order the happy face pancake at Friendly’s.

We do not lose the ability to act like a child; we lose the confidence we had as children. Growing from a child to an adult you gain the ability to do things you never could before. We grow into this vision of the glass half empty, but in reality the glass is one hundred percent full. We can do so much as we get older that we could not do at as a child.

Being nineteen I live in an apartment in New York City. I shaved my head. I can go out at 2 o’clock in the morning for no reason except I feel like walking around. I can watch any television show; I can read any book I want. I can be professional; I can gain respect from people I just met. I can chose where I want to be in 2 years. I can pursue whatever it is that interests me. I can cook and I can drive. I can have a one night stand; I can fall in love. The world is at my fingertips, all I have to do is take advantage of it.

As we age it is important to grow up a little bit, learn to be situation appropriate. It is also important to keep our childlike spontaneity and the confidence of our 7 year old selves. I challenge myself to at least one childlike spontaneous act each day to keep life fun, interesting, not quite so boring. It is important to live however it is we want to live. If you want to jump in the fountain in the middle of the park or buy a sponge bob ice cream or even just want to read a picture book you read as a five year, I say go for it.

As peter pan said “If growing up means it would be beneath my dignity to climb a tree, I won't grow up, never grow up, never grow up, not me. ”

Don’t let it be beneath your dignity to climb a tree. Being an adult does not mean you have to forget how to be a child.