How to be child-like again as an adult?

Firstly, why should you be? Not sure about you, but I envy watching lil kids sometimes. The way they can giggle or laugh at seemingly nothing, how that fearlessly explore the world and pushing societal norms and boundaries. Life seems easier for them with less worry or concerns about the responsibilities or risks around them. So yeah, to be a child again!

Having had conversations talking about work stress, general anxieties, sleepless or restless nights and days, and lots of bodily aches and pains, I wonder why we aren't living life like a child anymore... Here is some points on what I envy about kids which we can actually easily embrace but choose not to (with or without known reasons).

1.Physicality

Ever seen or heard of children having zoommies? And when was the last time you had one? Apparently, there's word going around that "95% of people never sprint over the age of 30". When was the last time you were crawling on all fours? How about doing a cartwheel? Jumping for fun? It's strange how we never got to do much of this movements anymore as adults. Of course, as we age, our body proportion, weight, strength will all change as well, and that may limit us on certain movements, but yeah, what happened to just jumping around for no reason or sprinting like a game of tag? Bring that back! Perhaps I'll just randomly do the floor is lava with people.

2.Sense of humour and wonder

Pulling dirty socks off his mom's hand - he giggled; throwing plastic balls and have plastic balls dropped on his head - he laughed; holding a hollow baby block in his mouth so his mom can put her finger on the hollow end - he sniggered; stacking 3 little cups one on top of another, he clapped for his success; stepping into a puddle - he smiled. Peekaboo - she chuckled; pretend sneeze - she cackled; held upside down by her legs - she laughed.

What makes you giggle yourself silly these days? Do you still chuckle over tiny things? How about the last time a cloud looks like someone or something? Are you looking out for them? Hehehe... It is like someone asking you to lookout for cars with the same model or plate number as yours. Suddenly, they are everywhere! Here are some things I giggle at recently, I'm sure you have yours too!

• Malaysian intercity busses - they look like big ants 🤭

• When my husband bought me a pair of shoes I like a lot 🤭
• When my sis sent me a silly cake that said "suddenly already older" 😆

So what makes you giggle yourself silly?

3.Being creative, think or do things differently

You have seen or even experience kids saying or doing the darnest things. Kids can be... creative... very creative... annoyingly creative at times. Creativity and innovation are perceived as signs of geniuses. And it was already proven in a research commissioned by NASA in 1968 looking for geniuses that these lil munchkins are. Just do a lil test here: In 1 minute, how many ways can you use a paperclip? Your time starts now! The research results were rather depressing for adults. Apparently 98% of kids below 5 qualified as geniuses but for adults, it was the other way around. Ooops! What went wrong? Can we right it? Yeah! Just revive your instinctive divergent thinking and repress your convergent thinking. What little mental exercises have you done recently to grow your inner genius? Perhaps start another!

4.Fearlessness

Oh, the way they explore their world, sometimes without the sense of danger, is an attitude or perspective to admire and aspire to regain. Of course, knowing there's REAL danger is a good experience to gain across time, but I'm pretty confident a lot of our anxiety and fear are from things that may or may not happen, conjured up by our imagination of our perceived environment. Oh to be fearlessly making decisions and taking actions! How I wish I can be so. Actually, why can't I? Moving forward, find opportunities to do something counterintuitive or out of the ordinary for you. Like pop-culture once mentioned "never let them guess your next move."

5.Just being

Walking in or after a rain, saw a puddle on the floor, do you get the urge to jump in it? Not anymore...? Toddlers usually can never resist stepping into a puddle. Something about it draws them in.

There's nothing like now. There's no such thing as delayed gratification for young kids. This is a learned concept. Just observe how babies eat. Their favourite food item will be devoured first; whereas for me, I save the best for last. Not saying delayed gratification should be thrown aside after all these years of honing it. Just saying live a little!

I'm reminded of what a good friend of mine likes to say "We are here for a good time, not a long time." Right now, try naming 5 little things that makes you live or lets your know you're alive. Nothing like a good deep breath eh?

Note to self: Be child-like, not childish

Child-like and childish are two different connotations. The former positive, the latter not so much. One encompasses the innocence, curiosity, wonderment of a child; the other laments the immaturity and irresponsibility of the young'uns. With that said, I'd encourage myself and you, dear readers, to embody child-likeness in our day-to-day being. We can all use some care-free, silly humour, and playfulness in our lives, yeah?

Let's end this post by a quick thought about the things you wanted or activities you were interested to try that you never had the money or time for as a child? What are some perspective of a child you'd like to relive? Life is long... yet short. Perhaps it is time to revisit those dreams and perspectives.