Full Circle

I think we have all said at one time, "I wished I knew then what I do now", when we are thinking about our childhood. That would have been nice except that we had plenty of people telling us then what they knew and we chose not to believe it.

Just like now when we tell someone about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle with proper eating and exercise, it reminds you of a teacher telling a child, "you need to learn this because it will help you later when you are grown". People tend to live for the moment instead of the future. The gradification of a TV show and a snack is 'now' and satisfying, the distant goal of a trim waist and having adventures is to far in the future to be as important right now.

Our lives tend to go full circle. There comes a time when we, secretly for most of us, long for that carefree person we were when we were young. Remember as children how we couldn't wait to get out of class so we could get on with doing what we wanted to. Kind of like we now when we can't wait to get off work and get to what we want to be doing.

I was kinda different from most, I craved a life of adventure, a life of going and seeing and doing. I needed a little risk and a touch of danger. The life of a warrior kept me in tune with the child within me. But then I retired and tried to grow up. I gave it a good try, for seven years I kept my inner child stuffed in the darkest recesses of my mind and tried to become a proper adult. I worked hard, came home, relaxed, slept and the next day did it all over again.

When I turned 50 I realized that I had become over weight, horribly out of shape and totally miserable. I had not only become an adult, I had become an old adult. I had tried to be a good adult and repress my desires to go out and play. Good adults go to work not out to play right? You strive to make money not memories right?

Now I nurture my inner child and let him guide my thinking. I want to have dreams and goals, I want to race and play with my friends. I want to get up every morning excited because I'm one day closer to my next adventure. I want to be excited each day because I get to go out and play. I get to go swimming and walking and playing. I still do a good job at my work, actually better now that I'm so much happier than before. Since my inner child has come back I laugh a lot more now and my co workers say they like coming to work when they get to work with me because I'm fun. I like being fun much better than grown up and serious.

Thank you for reading.

Fun Panda