
If someone asks you, “What is the best time of your life?” What would you say? Well, I would say that it was my childhood. Those carefree days where I could sleep as much as I wanted, dream anything and everything and even believe all those dreams would come true were great. Looking back, all this feels like a fantasy. A fantasy far away from me. Something I can feel but cannot touch. When I was young, my parents used to buy me fairytales with dragons, princes and warriors as the main characters. I loved reading them because I believed in the story. I believed that when we face a dragon, just take the sword out and kill it. Only if it was applicable in our real life too… I still remember my endless aspirations that I had for my future which included being a doctor, an author, a music composer, an actress, a speaker and so on and so forth. But as I grew older, something called reality hit me. And that’s when I realised that all this can be dreamt of, but achieving them is not possible.
But what caused this change, apart from the sinking in of the reality? I think it has more to do with the development of our consciousness towards the societal norms and expectations. All of our embarrassing stories would mostly be associated with our childhood. It is embarrassing because we acted upon the desires and wishes of our heart. We did not pay much attention to the people around us or their perception of us. We never had the pressure to do something accurately. As long as we had fun in what we did, it was perfect for us. We were never worried about gaining weight or not growing tall. We were never concerned of anyone’s opinion about the way we performed certain things. And that’s exactly what made those moments special and real despite the embarrassment.
In our childhood, we had a clear distinction between what’s right and wrong. We had a very simple outlook to life. But as we navigate through our lives, our beliefs and perception changes. We start to question them and what we saw as black and white before turns to different shades of grey. Although this transition is inevitable, life does not have to be so monotonous. We can add flavours to our lives by including the missing factor: our childishness. The playfulness that we all left behind in our childhood is something that could enhance and uplift our mundane lives into a colourful one. Bring that inquisitiveness back. Dream more and cling onto them. Because as I told, reality is real but everyone needs a little bit of fantasy in their lives to balance out the reality. That being said, let me come to the final point which is – whatever you’ve become, wherever you’re, never ever forget to do something just for FUN. The journey might be long and tiring but it’s okay to take a break to pause, breathe and restart.