If you feel like you have become too ‘serious’ and are missing the joy and laughter you experienced as a child, maybe it’s time for you to discover your inner child so that every time life becomes too dreary , you can ensure you bring back a little fun back into your life.
These steps are designed to be easy and easy to remember so you can think of them during those dull moments and snap back to the happier, ‘fun-ner’ you.
1.Remember the activities you enjoyed as a child.
Whether it was coloring pages, jigsaw puzzles, model airplanes or doll houses, these simple things must have brought immense joy to you as a child. Today, companies have spent a great deal of money to make ‘grown up’ versions of these activities. Intricately designed coloring sheets, thousand piece jigsaw puzzles, high end model airplanes and doll houses, these are available in stores today , just so you can enjoy the simple pleasures as you once did as a child. Unfortunately these adult versions come with adult prices, so you can’t really step in and load your shopping cart with all these ‘goodies’ as you hoped to be able to do when you were a kid! Another option you have is to simply let yourself loose in the toy section and pick up anything you think looks interesting. Then next time you are in a boring meeting or having a really hard day, you can think of these things waiting at home at it will definitely brighten up your day!
2.Volunteer at a local elementary school or play school
A lot of schools embrace members of the community who volunteer to give some of their time to help out with activities at school. If such an opportunity arises in your community, be sure to make the best of it. Spending some time with little children will help you to shrug off some of the ‘adultness’, of your daily life and spend time engaged in simple activities like finger painting or playing with play dough . Spending some time with little children who couldn’t care less for grown up etiquette or politeness will be both refreshing as well as inspiring.
It just might make you re examine the way you interact with your own friends and colleagues! What’s more you will be giving back to the community and giving some hardworking teachers precious time to plan for their next classes.
3.Join the Big Brother/ Big Sister Program
Most cities have the Big Brother and Big Sister program, or versions of it. They are designed to provide adult role models to children who need them in order to expand their horizons and help change their lives. By taking a step back from your own worries and trying to help these children as they struggle through some tough times, you may find yourself remembering, and in some cases appreciating your childhood more than you ever did before. Problems that seem quite small and insignificant to us as adults can overwhelm the life of a child and by helping out you may play a significant role in helping that child steer his or her life onto the right path. And it’s a two way street. These children will help you as much as you help them, by enabling you to re evaluate your priorities, helping you ‘keep up with the times’ or even just by helping you let loose and have some fun because you’ve forgotten how.
4.Do things ‘The Kiddie Way’
If you’ve always wanted to try something new, but haven’t because you’re not sure how, why not try to do it the kiddie way. Whether it’s baking or chemistry , the internet is full of sites that are designed to help kids understand these things better, and so they are simple, easy to follow and safe. Once you’ve gained some mastery on these sites you can move up to sites for older kids and then work your way to the adult competency. Even though it may sound silly, once you try it out and succeed, it will then provide the motivation you need to try more complex versions of the same thing. For example, if you’ve wanted to start baking, look for recipes for kids that are simple and safe and require minimal ingredients. Once you’ve succeeded with these simple recipes, you will be motivated to try recipes with more complexities. By then you’ve already got the hang of your oven settings and some baking techniques and so these will not add unnecessary strain when you try the more difficult versions of the same recipe.
5. Take a tip from Phoebe
In an episode of the series ‘Friends’, one of the characters, Phoebe talks about running like you used to as a child, when you were running to be first to the swings or while you were running away from a dog. This would include the arms flailing and ,yes, even the yelling and screaming. You may not find this ideal in a gym or overcrowded park, but it’s definitely something to try early one morning on the beach or an empty park. If you know of a place with sounds so loud that your yelling would not be heard, go there and just yell at the top of your lungs! As adults, we become accustomed to talking at a certain level or running at a certain pace. So accustomed, that we forget what it feels like to talk or run any differently. Don’t wait for a fight to raise your voice or for any untoward event to make you pump your legs and run as fast as you can. Find opportunities to do this without reason and the adrenaline rush that you feel will definitely be the same experience you had as a kid, when you didn’t even know what adrenaline was!
6. Buy the ‘kids meal’
Go to a fast food store and buy the kids meal and forget the food and play with they toy as you used to as a kid. Or buy the chocolates with the ‘surprise toy’ inside that you loved as a kid. For some reason, when we grow up , we term these things as childish and just put them aside, without really thinking of how much joy they brought to us as kids. Granted that too many kids meals or chocolates aren’t a very good idea, but every once in a while, it won’t hurt to relish these childish things as much as you did when you were a chid!