By Sunny Simon
The other day I created this post on Facebook. “You are an adult to your inner child. Give yourself permission to eat ice cream for breakfast… in your cowgirl boots.” Judging by the likes and comments, this little ditty delighted a number of friends. Like me, they probably sometimes tire of being an adult. Not only is it hard work, as grown-ups, we sometimes lack the creativity and spontaneity of the young.
Are you too wound up in the parameters of adulthood? I know I am much of the time. When I need to step back, turn off the noise of the world and shake off my Ms Manners persona, I turn to my old friend Dr. Suess. I think he nailed it when he said “I like nonsense. It wakes up the brain.”
I always cherish reading to children by delivering the sing-song verses written by Theodore Geisel, the real name of the man dubbed as the modern Mother Goose. We loved his characters because they embraced coloring outside the lines and rarely played by the rules. (Actually, Theodore was prone to breaking the rules too as evidenced by some trouble he got into at Dartmouth. Along with some buddies, he was caught drinking in his dorm room. I know, no big deal right? Well this was 1924 when prohibition reined so there was a penalty.)
Embracing our inner child means sometimes looking at the world wearing glasses two prescriptions too strong. Perhaps Suess was doing this when he wrote: “From here to there, and there to here, funny things are everywhere.”
So jump on the bandwagon today and plan something fun. Break out of the constant mold of proper adult behavior. Head to the mall and buy some light-up shoes to wear to work on casual Friday. Hide a bottle of soap bubbles in your desk drawer and blow them over your cube when the boss isn’t looking. Get creative and mix it up a bit. As Suess reminded us, “There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.”
About breakfast…forget your morning Starbucks ritual of a non-fat decaf cappuccino or your skinny green tea latte. Stop at the nearest Ben and Jerry’s and opt for a scoop of one of their insane flavors like Coconuts for Caramel. As for me, I just might show up at the breakfast table wearing a pink tutu and munching on cold pizza my favorite wacky breakfast treat.
Sunny Simon is the owner of Raise the Bar High Life and Career Coaching and the author of the blog, www.lifeonthesunnyside.net
