From a very young age, we are asked what we want to be when we grow up. We spend our childhood and adolescence dreaming of how wonderful it will be to be an adult. We think of all the money and freedom we will have and we romanticize the future to the degree that the present can never fully live up. We are trained into a trap of discontent. 

I challenge this idea. Why do we need to grow up? Sure with time, we learn different skills and new information. We develop into ourselves and we find the places that feel like home. We discover new passions and we rediscover old ones. Who says that to do that we need to let go of our childhood wonder? By sacrificing that curiosity we doom ourselves to a life of always wanting more. We do not need to confine ourselves to the idea of “maybe in another life.” Instead, we can choose to make this life incredible. 

By choosing to live today all we are really doing is choosing to act. We are choosing to learn about what we find interesting. We are choosing to keep our hobbies into adulthood without fear of being cringy. What freedom! If a little girl who loves rocks grows up to be a geologist that is incredible! If a little girl who loves rocks grows up to continue loving rocks on the weekends of her 9-5 how incredible! As we grow it is important to remember our passions and to continue to make our lives worth the trouble.