Driving my ten year old daughter and her teammate back from soccer practice last night, I had a realization. As they sat in the back seat, their imaginations were running wild. Animals were marrying each other, revolts were happening and somehow aliens came into play. The music wasn’t on so I was able to hear most if not all of what they were saying. My adult mind tuned out a lot of what was happening but I couldn’t help being intrigued with the storyline and where it would go next.
I was somewhat interested but mostly I was jealous. Their ability to imagine and create worlds wholly their own in the blink of an eye was commonplace at one point in my life. Among other things, adulthood strips most of us of this ability. The space in our brain where imagination once lived is replaced with 5/10/15 year financial plans, parenting and the stresses of everyday life.
Listening to my daughter I realized that my imagination is still active, it just needs to be unlocked once in a while.
A game that my brothers and I used to love was “flick football.” Once I describe it, many of you will know exactly what I’m talking about. The game is as simple as it gets. You take a piece of paper, fold it into a triangle and affix with tape. You and a partner trade field goals by “flicking” the triangular paper football through the goalpost, which is your two thumbs touching and index fingers pointed up. For around ten cents, we’d have hours of enjoyment. We’d even have our favorite football stuffed in our pocket so we could play whenever, wherever.
Something else I loved to do as a child was to draw cars and college football stadiums. My drawing skills were subpar so none of them were very good if I’m being honest. That didn’t stop me from attempting to draw intricate designs for the cars or stadiums that would one day be affixed with my name. Needless to say, I never became an architect or car designer, but I remember those times fondly when I was able to tap into my creativity and imagine something from scratch.
Neither of these examples costs anything more than a few dollars in supplies. A handful of dollar bills and a little imagination created something unique. My daughter and her teammate had even less to work with. Using a few items taken from their soccer bags, they were able to collaborate in telling a story that, although somewhat jibberish, made sense to them and their young minds.
As adults, we’re constantly reaching for the next thing to purchase or acquire. We’ve forgotten what it was like to have nothing or very little and have fun with what was provided. Entertainment presents itself in the form of expensive video game systems, off road vehicles or other toys to aid in our search for fulfillment. What we forget is, many of us had these things as kids and we chose the flick football, pen and paper or light saber duel in the backyard instead.
This isn’t a call to release your stuffed animals from the attic nor am I saying it makes sense to revert back to childhood. The point is, by tapping into what made our childhood special when we’re adults, we have the ability to see what truly matters. The toys, games and other things are nice to have but they’re not going to provide you fulfillment.
Leaving the stuffed animals in the attic makes sense but it may be time to unleash the light sabers.
Let me know when the next duel is taking place.
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