Image courtesy of Glenn Tremblett’s photostream
Think back to when you were just a kid playing in the backyard with your siblings or friends. How much fun did you have? When you see children playing and laughing, don’t you wonder what they are actually imagining?
I often think about how much I have grown as an adult, but it feels like just yesterday I was chasing foul balls at a little league game – something changed. When did I stop chasing foul balls? When did that get too childish for me? When did I lose my inner child?
As we enter adulthood, we associate childish things with negative attributes, but sometimes when we lose our inner child, we also lose some incredible childhood traits such as curiosity, fearlessness, innocence, and imagination.
The imagination is phenomenal, but it’s almost always underused. As kids, we used it to help us navigate through our everyday challenges. Even though those challenges may have been not having anyone to play with, why have we stopped letting it help us get through our struggles? Maybe it’s immature to use our imaginations.
Maturing is an important part of life, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do some of the things we did as kids. Look at grownups at a Major League Baseball game. When a foul ball or home run goes into the stands, you witness their inner children coming out again. They push and shove, run and dive for that ball and celebrate when they get it. Maybe that is enough to show that even though we are adults, we have our inner child somewhere inside.
As a child, a lot of things are new. We weren’t afraid to go on an adventure or try something that we hadn’t before like riding your bike down the hill or jumping off that swing set. As we got older, some of us had fears of failure that stopped us from trying the things that we dreamed of doing. What is it that you want to do? Why haven’t you done it? Go do it!
You should be fearless at work, just like when you were a kid. Do you ever have those moments at work when your heart is pounding, your breath is short and your stress is high because you aren’t sure if you’re going to land that sale or complete that project? Some people might call that fear, but fearless people call that excitement. The only difference is how you interpret it! A different interpretation can change something from a negative to a positive.
Everyone should let their inner child out, even for just a little while. Do the things you did as a kid and see how your attitude changes. Allow that change to carry over into your adult life and bring it to work with you. Express the creativity in your work and encourage others to do the same because we all have an inner child.
