Did You Grow Up And Give Up Play?

I can still recall my childhood. I would leave our house in the afternoon, and run after my playmates towards the rice fields. It was windy, and the plains were dry after a season’s harvest. It was time to fly my kite, climb the mango trees, and reach out to the sky.

It would feel like an eternity of bliss. Nothing is stopping me and my playmates from doing what we want.

All that mattered was the moment.

When the day ends, after my mom and dad tuck me to sleep, I will close my eyes with a smile, and ask God for another good weather tomorrow so that I can play again.

So much of our childhood is driven by learning and play. When you grow up, you realize it is where you are most alive.

So what changed? What makes you different now?

The Need To Be Successful

As you grow up, you realize you want to be successful. Either feeling in front of the wolf pack or the tail end of it, you realize that there is a ladder, or rather, the world introduced you to the ladder and you felt it, heavy and provoking.

Why do certain people have better things than me? Why do they have toys my family can’t afford? Why are they richer, and their lunch served?

Eventually, the mangoes I picked lost their sweetness, and somehow my kite doesn’t seem so fun anymore.

It seems the world you are in, has a very distorted view of success. We mostly attributed it to status, money, fame, or power. If you do not have any of these things, you’re not successful.

Adults don’t sleep with a smile on their face because they are never content.

They want a bigger house, a business they can expand, and huge amounts of investments. When you strive for the next promotion and work tirelessly overnights and months and years for it, you tend to forget how good the weather is.

You are frustrated about your debts, your mortgage, and your romantic relationship if you have one. Does growing up equate to this? I thought you were going to help the poor or help the environment.

I thought you were going to be successful.

The Pull of Distraction

When you were young, you were curious. You maximize play because you learn whenever you play.

• You play with your sticks and paper and learn how to build your kite.
• You play with your friends on the lake and learn how not to get drowned.
• You play with your books and learn that the world is a sphere and not flat, and you learn that it’s bigger than what you initially thought. It doesn’t end on the other side of the rainbow.
• You play with words and learn how to write and express yourself.

Now you have grown up and somehow all your curiosity is gone and you forget how to play.

The surge of information and knowledge doesn’t seem too fun anymore, and it felt overwhelming, yet somehow addicting.

You can now daydream just by watching reels on your iPhone. You can now play just by tapping a few buttons.

You don’t need your imagination anymore. Did you also forget you still have it?

I WANT TO FEEL ALIVE! 🌱🔥

There is this place on a mountain, where you can see both the vastness of the world and the sky with your eyes. The wind would sing around you, and you would feel your breath coming in and out of you as you smile.

You recall the times you drank your coffee in the rain and the moments you stared outside your bedroom window to watch everything move without thinking of anything.

Somehow this life is already perfect when you stop and pause for a bit… to have a moment, when nothing really mattered, but just the moment itself.

• When was the last time you laughed so hard with your friends or family?
• When was the last time you had an intimate conversation with someone you love?
• When was the last time you stayed in bed, stared at a blank ceiling, not rushing into anything, and just daydreamed without the itch to check your phone for emails or app notifications?

Someday, I will fly.
Someday, I’ll travel the world.
Someday, I’ll be an astronaut and reach for the stars.

Close your eyes. And try to remember.
Will God give you another good weather tomorrow, so you can play again?

Hello Readers!

If you want to delve deeper into this piece, I invite you to a little assignment:

• Schedule some unstructured time into your week, even if it’s just 15–30 minutes. Use that time to do something you loved as a child, whether singing, dancing, drawing, building something, or simply exploring nature.

You might be surprised how it can shift your current perspective on life and how it can direct you more to where you need to be. Good luck and let me know if this helped you in any way.

Peace. 🙏🏽