EMBRACING CHILDLIKE JOY

I was listening to this podcast this week and it made a point about remembering what brought you joy as a child and embracing that now to bring more joy into your present day. When I was younger, I didn’t put much thought into what I loved to do. I just knew and as a result those activities filled my time because I loved to do them! I was really struck by this idea of coming back to the simple joys of childhood so I came up with a journal prompt that I sent to quite a few friends to contemplate. I also had my team at work discuss these questions during our team meeting and it was a fun discussion which is leading me to share the prompt here.

The journal prompt or discussion questions are as follows:

1. When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?
2. When you were young, what things brought you joy? What things did you love to do?
3. How will or do you incorporate the joys of your younger self into your present day?

The responses I got from people were amazing and insightful! It turned out, some career paths taken and hobbies people love to do as adults have ties back to things that brought them joy as a child. It’s also interesting to think about what you wanted to be when you grew up and how (or if) an aspect of that dream is manifesting in your current reality.

I think as children, we had a sense of our gifts which helped inform our thoughts around our dream job or what we wanted to be when we grew up. If we can incorporate our innate sense of knowing our gifts into our present day, we may feel more fulfilled or more like we are living in purpose.

When I was younger, my dream was to own an ice cream shop called Hannah’s Shivering and Shaking Ice Cream Shop (the longest name I know! Can you imagine that on a sign?). My favorite activities were running around the golf course and climbing trees I individually named. I also loved biking to the local ice cream shop, Shivers. I’m quite certain I went every day in the summer and spent all of my weekly allowance there. I also loved to help people. I got a lot of joy out of being a helper.

My ice cream shop dream has shifted into owning a coffee shop in my adult years. There is something about serving people that I’ve always been drawn to. Currently, I am serving my clients and have a strong desire to get back into volunteering. This blog also allows me to share experiences and adventures with others in hopes it will help them plan a fun adventure of their own. I very much still love to run around in nature except now I just look at trees instead of climb them. Nature is still where I find my joy and sense of freedom and independence.

I’m going to try to incorporate more childlike joy into my life and get back to the roots of who I’ve always known I am. I’ll be interested to see how you reminisce and incorporate your childlike joy into your present day as well.

Now, off to plan a camping trip I’ll share in a few weeks!

Until the next tale… Happy trails.

-Hannah