Monday, September 29, 2014

Grow Up!

People keep telling me to grow up. They say it straight to my face. They say it with what they think to be sly comments. They say it with their looks when I make a corny joke. All around me I am being told to give up my youth and "grow up".

The fact is I don't want to.

I'm not saying it as a spoiled child who doesn't want to work for the things they get or have to go out and function in the real world. To me, the meaning of growing up has changed. I will gladly face the responsibilities that come with being adult. What I will not accept is the loss of a spark for life that I have seen in far too many who are "grown up". I will not give up my sense of wonder about the world and the possibilities it holds for me. I will always love coloring, laughing, singing, dancing, joking, and of course all things Disney.

I have known so many people who have "grown up" and forgotten what it is like to let loose and have good old-fashioned fun. It's as if they don't remember the joys of being a kid. Don't get me wrong, I know that life is stressful and you can't always do what you want to. I just don't see the need to forget all of the things that made you so happy for those that you think you should do.

Of course there is a time and place for everything, but I don't think childish antics have to or should be forgotten. For the most part we were all so happy as children so why not hold on to that feeling and bring that optimism with us into the adult world. We all need to take a breather and remember that life doesn't have to be so serious.

Black Hole of Self Pity

It's funny how much time we waste in our lives feeling sorry for ourselves.

I like to lay around and mope just as much as the next person, but lately I find myself doing it more and more. Every one of us have been wronged and felt the need to curl up in a ball of self pity with heaps of blankets, ice cream, and Full House reruns. As I sit in my hotel room, listening to the ocean crash upon the shore in a mesmerizing hum, I realize how self damaging these actions are. I have once again overreacted to a small comment made by my sister and to punish her, and wallow in self pity, I have gone to sleep on the couch. Wow, I sure have showed her.

Yes, I have a right to feel hurt by things, but feeling sorry for myself gets me nowhere. I waste so much time being angry that I miss out on having fun. I'm not punishing my "wrong doers". I end up punishing myself and regretting it later. When I catch myself moping I find it hard to snap out of it. My self pity is a black hole that keeps pulling me in deeper and deeper. It is so easy for me to find reasons to let myself be sucked in that I justify my actions. When others try to pull me out of my stupor I refuse to allow it. I feel that if I move on it's as if I was wrong for feeling hurt in the first place.