Don't Grow Up

I’m a big kid. That’s immediately apparent when walking into my home office. The walls are covered with Disneyland attraction posters, Disneyland Funko Pop figures, and I have a stuffed Fuzzball looking over my shoulder in every virtual meeting (side note: if you don’t know what I’m talking about when I mention Fuzzball, do yourself a favor and look up Captain EO. Legend).

I used to be pretty embarrassed about my childlike approach to life. I figured people thought I was regressive and immature, and even had a girl tell me that on a date (I really dodged a bullet there). But over the last few years I’ve learned to not only embrace but celebrate my approach to life.

Social media, commercials, billboards, and every day life offer so many opportunities to dwell on horrifying things taking place around the world. Recently a new TV ad campaign geared toward helping folks quit smoking smoking features interviews with people who later died. So while we’re trying to escape from life for a half hour by watching The Simpsons we’re literally watching dead people talk. Now, don’t get me wrong; I’m not proposing we all stick our heads in the sand to ignore reality, or adopt the toxic positivity we see so often in daily life (psychologists call that “denial”). I’m a firm believer that we in America absolutely need to pay attention to what’s going on in the world, because most of the world doesn’t have the luxury of avoiding it by turning off the TV or taking a social media break. But, our brains aren’t built to handle the 24/7 news cycle. We cannot possibly take in all information at all times.

So, how do we deal with the world in which we now find ourselves? How do we take time to ensure we don’t spiral into depression every time we open Twitter? How do we find joy where it seems to be in short supply?

Recently I was at a summer BBQ for the music team at my church. It’s held at the same park every year, and there’s a pretty decent playground right next to the shelter where we devour brisket and coleslaw. Folks bring their whole families, and the kids go bananas climbing and sliding while the parents mock each others corn hole skills. Ya know what the kids aren’t doing while they run around having the time of their lives? They’re not checking their 401(k)s. They’re not looking to see what documents were discovered at Mar a Lago. And they’re definitely not tracking early voting statistics.

Simply put, they’re having fun. They’re not grown-ups, and they don’t do grown-up things. Their primary goal in life is to enjoy themselves.

So, I’m going to start a little blog series about how not to grow up. In each post I’ll offer a simple way we can take a more lighthearted, childlike approach to our existence. Some will be easy to action (jump in a pile of leaves), and others will take a bit more planning (we all know the first one is going to be “go to Disneyland”), but all will be practical steps to avoid living our lives in complete seriousness 100% of the time.

Let’s take a note from the kiddos in our lives; don’t grow up.