The end of childhood begins with the letting go of our true nature. The spontaneity, the quickness of laughter and tears, the complete immersion in our joys and sorrows, the uncurtailed flow of energy that expresses itself in untiring skip-hop-jumps…all of it ends with the much overrated rite of passage called growing up.
Expected to behave in ‘grown-up’ ways, we begin to suppress our instincts and the flood of energy that is our own in childhood. We begin putting on masks, playing roles, contorting our faces (and our psyches) to resemble the person we think we are, or ought to become. We smother what’s natural to us and follow rules and guidelines that are supposed to help us ‘grow up and be someone’.
But sadly, that ‘someone’ is more often than not a far cry from the person we really are. And in our ostensible growing up, we lose all that is natural to us, forfeiting all that brings us real happiness.
Wouldn’t it be great to be able to let go of this fake, silly grown-up-ness and immerse ourselves fully in life again? To really grow up… and be a child again?All grown up
Laughter and tears, love and hate
used to be a time when all was pure
when anger came in a flash
and forgiveness even faster
There was a time
when every step was danced
and every word, sung,
and the face I wore was my own
And I remember (quite clearly... I think)
talking to God, dancing with angels
and being in dread
of monsters under my bed
There was a time when I believed
in magic, the power of a spell
and darn…
even heaven and hell!
But that was before acting and pretense
spilled beyond playtime
That was before the mask came on,
before I learned… to be all grown up…
