Many, many times we hear adults say that they wish they could re-experience the joy, enthusiasm, and innocence of childhood. It is easy to forget that childhood is often a place of painful inhibition and insecurity, a walking-on-eggshells game of trying to provide the “correct” emotional response in the landmine world of adults. It is not always the carefree days we prefer to harken back to.
But what if adults made a conscious effort to enjoy those very things which brought pleasure and joy in childhood? What if we felt free to eat cookies – or cookie batter – without apologies and excuses? What if adults felt free to roll down hills, spin until dizzy, howl at the moon with our dogs, or have soft-serve ice cream for dinner on a summer evening?
What if otherwise creative adults stopped making excuses for not writing, painting, singing, or dancing? What if we stopped banishing those delights to our past as things that we “used to do?” What if ignored the fear of being judged and stopped hiding behind Perfectionism long enough to send a bit of art (a poem, a song sung out loud, a photograph) out into the world? Would this sharing help others be less afraid to share poetry, even if they’re not T.S. Eliot, a painting if they’re not Picasso, or a photograph if they’re not Dorothea Lange?
What if those who read this share their unique art with the world, and report back on the joy and amusement that has been added to the world?
