What would the child you were think of the adult you've become? When we're children, our needs and wants are remarkably simple.
We want to be happy, and we need the grown-ups around us to provide an environment that will give us the opportunity to do that through play.
As we age we still want to be happy, but we look for that happiness in relationships and work and the four walls that we call home.
As we age, we leave play behind us.
Mostly because of the doomsayers in the world who predict that if we don't grow up and act our age we're going to end up spending the rest of our lives living in our mother's basements, delivering pizzas and playing video games.
So we buckle down, get a job, form meaningful adult relationships, and slowly but surely die inside as those responsibilities crush the life right out of us.
Lack of Passion Makes You Old Would child-you think adult-you was pretty cool? Or would the child you were look at who you are now in disgust and run off to find some much more interesting people to hang out with? When we're young, we focus our passion on playing; it gives us joy, keeps us interesting and passes the time.
When you were young, which adults did you find boring? I'd wager it wasn't the adults who spent hours playing soccer in the yard, helped you to learn how to ride a bike, or who took you on all those trips to the park.
More likely, it was the grown-ups who gave you a snack and some crayons and told you to go and watch some TV, while they continued watching The Price is Right.
Don't misunderstand me - I've liked shows such as Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune since I was small.
My very tolerant grandmother had to have me along for the ride when she went to Bible study.
While we were there her friends, who were, incidentally, very cool, would give me zucchini bread and Smarties and the evening's test of my intellect.
Of the things that stick in my mind when I remember my grandmother and her friends, the time spent watching television is not really one of them.
More memorable are the nights they'd get so sick of being stuck indoors that they'd hustle me into the car at 10 p.
m.
so we could go for a joyride (or maybe, they were just trying to get me to go off to sleep; I'm not sure).
I also fondly remember our indoor games of horseshoes when we were snowed-in.
Other cherished memories are the times these women (who, incidentally, were all in their 60s or 70s) would rustle all the kids up after Sunday church for a game of kickball.
They certainly gave us a run for our money during those games! If You'd Have Told Me These Women Were Old, I'd Have Laughed...
...
And I'd have meant it.
The passion and verve they brought to their life-to every piece of their life-kept them young long past the point when society considered them old.
They didn't just get through life, meeting their responsibilities and collapsing in front of the TV at the end of the night, although goodness knows they deserved to.
They remembered how to play.
They played long.
They played hard.
They played passionately.
That play was the eternal fountain of youth, and it will be for you too.