Play Each Day
As I tossed my hair behind me and rolled onto my side, I snuggled into my pillow only to stare at the black abyss in the corner of my room. My mind not-so-sleepily reviewed my day and I thought about all I had accomplished, including some rather adult-like traveling preparations. “Adult-like.” How silly. I have been an adult for two decades. I am an adult…I think.
My husband, Adam, was on the verge of sleeping soundly, awakening in a flutter to my question.
“Wait, what?” he raspily asked, being pulled back to this reality from a realm of sleep.
“Do you feel like an adult?” I questioned further, “When did you start feeling like an adult?”
“Jennifer, of course I feel like an adult.”
I don’t remember what else he said verbatim, but it was something along the lines of his career and how he has identified as an adult for most of his life.
I don’t feel like an adult. I never have. I have done “adult things”- I have prepared my taxes, raised children, created businesses, bought and sold large assets, and I have had life-changing circumstances that should have broken me. Through it all though, I have never considered myself truly an adult.
I have opinions. I make decisions. I am a full-fledged 30-something-yr old woman that has wrinkles and random gray hairs on her chin. I have suffered, I have rejoiced, I have been in the depths of pits so deep, and I have climbed out of them. Why do I not feel like I’m “grown-up”?
When I envision the idea of an adult, my ego very stereotypically visualizes a scowling face weighted with the decisions and stress of the world, while nicely wrapped in business attire. I place my feet in their hypothetical shoes, and I’m instantly drained. The technicolor world dulls to a monochromatic screen, while butterflies and bubbles turn into smog and cartoonish scribbles of stress. A polluted reality created by polluted thoughts.
After some major introspection, the answer floated into my stream of consciousness.
I don’t identify as an adult, because I have never lost my ability to remember what it’s like to be a child.
I create and use my imagination on a daily basis. As a photographer, I create elaborate scenes and storyboards for my clients. I narrate the premise of the session to my clients and ask them to use their imaginations. Then I spend hours at a time creating and compositing each photo to create a visual story for them to cherish. My literal business motto is “Follow the Magic”.
When we stop believing and no longer see the joy, the magic, around every corner, our light diminishes. We fall into a pigeonhole of black and white and become muddled among the shades of gray. Walking zombies, dead to the world around us, consumed by everything not of Love.
Every ascended master and wide-spread religion has based their philosophy on one common denominator; Love.
Love is the basis of everything that is “good”. It was baked into the cookies from our childhood. It was wrapped in the hug that embraced our soul. Love surrounded the sight that took our breath away in awe.
When we show our inner-child love and allow ourselves to play, we heal on levels buried deep in the depths of our hearts. We bring joy back into our lives and create a more loving and colorful world; a brighter world.
Play each day and find your joy.
