Lately the world feels like a scary and crazy place. Filled with financial woes, health concerns, mass shootings, environmental issues and continued isolation. We desperately need a break. Remember what it was like when we were kids?
That innocence we experienced before time and events clouded our viewpoints. When we felt excitement and wonder with every new encounter?
Even an empty box was entertaining.
The exhilaration at feeling mud, squishy and cold, between your toes?
Fascinated by the flight of a leaf on a windy day.
Watching a humming bird seem to stand still in mid air.
The taste of raindrops or snowflakes on your tongue.
Fetching with puppy dogs.
Ice cream melting down our hand faster than we could lick it off.
How clouds took on images and prompted wild and wonderful stories.
Twirling until you dropped.
Remember those feelings?
When acting our age meant expressing what we felt in the moment without fear we’d be judged. When I was young the summer monsoons were amazing. The sky turned a magnificent purple and the sheets of rain never stopped. One hundred degrees dropped to seventy in minutes and the earth seemed to hold its breath. That’s when all the kids in the neighborhood grabbed broken down boxes and ran to the washes where we would use them as a means to slip and slide into the muddy waters for hours. It was heaven.
Well, maybe not to our parents when we came home happy, but dirty!
For many, they have youngsters around to show them the way. Even help them be kids again without feeling embarrassed or foolish. For the rest of us, throw caution to the wind and do all the things you used to do as a kid, on your own.
Set up paper and finger paint. Feel the different colors on your hands, not a brush, and produce a work of art. It’s amazing how it changes the experience. To become a part of the artwork not separated from it.
Run to the nearest park and slide down the slide, swing on the swings and play on the merry go round.
Lie on the ground and gaze at the clouds. See how they morph into creatures that can take you on an adventure.
Make the largest waves with a cannonball into the pool.
As adults it falls on our shoulders to keep updated on current affairs, but staying aware doesn’t mean being inundated and overwhelmed. Set limits, then turn off the news, social media, phones, and other devices.
Interact in person if possible.
Go outside and watch the summer storms. They can be brutal. Batting around trees like leaves, upending furniture, causing turmoil and havoc. But then comes the aftermath.
Filled with quiet, calm and a freshness in the air that’s palpable. Breathtaking rainbows.
Giving a new perspective to the world.
It’s easy to become jaded, sure the bad times will never end. But like the storms that blow through with unchecked ferocity getting through them is all that matters.
Gathering together so no one is picked off and making sure we all get to the other side.
But in the midst of all that turmoil maybe it’s time to let go, and start running and dancing in the rain.
Unshackled by societies rigid norms, let loose, be silly and remember what it was like to play with no goal in mind. In the midst of the craziness we all desperately need a few moments respite to enjoy our version of a mudslide. To reboot, refresh. Our worries will still be there when we are done.
This was a fun post! I loved the imagery and hope I can do some of the things! No slides or climbing for me. I do love to be out in the storms we’ve had. I stand under my patio and watch and listen. One day the lightning scared me into going inside!
Dr Courtney has been my PCP for at least 5 years. She is very conscientous, thorough , considerate, pleasant, and very concerned about my health. She and her office staff make sure I have my appointments, my medical reports, and my medicines to be refilled. In short, one of the best doctors I have ever known.
Bob F, retired podiatrist