Do you remember the last time you had a good laugh? It might have been yesterday, or it might have been a few weeks ago. But chances are, it's been a while. As adults, we tend to take life too seriously. We get bogged down by work, bills, and all the other stressors in our lives. But if we don't take some time to let loose and enjoy ourselves, life can be pretty bleak. This blog post will discuss how keeping your inner child alive can make you happier and see life in a better light.

Life doesn't have to be too serious.

There is this idea that once you become an adult, life becomes more serious, and there is less time for fun. Unfortunately, at some point, it is true. Adult life is full of responsibilities, stressful situations, and paying bills. It can often get overwhelming, and for some of us, we lose to ability to smile and laugh wholeheartedly. We get so busy that we hardly have time for fun and play. When this situation runs for too long, we can become tired of life and think it is only a tedious chore to go through.

No rule states that once you become an adult, you should let go of your childhood hobbies and wishful thinking. On the contrary, if something is your passion and matters to you, you will keep doing it even if you are already a grown-up. Likewise, being an adult doesn't mean you have to become too serious with life. If you want to show you are an adult, you only need to know how to take responsibility for your actions, be considerate of others, have an open mind, and take care of your duties well. Aside from these, you can still do the things you enjoyed when you were a little child. You won't get imprisoned for still playing and collecting toys, playing video games, or watching cartoons when you are fully grown. Society is the only one who thinks it may be weird to do "childish" stuff as a grown-up. Others don't know that keeping your inner child alive within you will always make you happier and more optimistic about life. It's only a matter of reigniting the things and thoughts you enjoyed as a young child and continuing them well into adulthood.

1. Keep the curiosity alive

Remember the days when you were a child, and you kept asking questions about everything to the point your parents got annoyed by your continuous asking? You can continue the tradition of asking even when you are past your childhood days. Being inquisitive opens your mind to new ideas and opportunities which you may not unlock if you only limit yourself to a specific body of knowledge. Proven traditions and beliefs can change, and you can be more accepting of new ideas if you have an open mind. Keeping your curiosity and wondering how things work and what else you can do can improve your learning and open new doors for you.

2. Know how to have some fun

Some people ditch their childhood hobbies once they reach adulthood. They may think it is immature to continue playing with toys or watching cartoons when you are already a grown-up. However, maturity is not signified by what you do for fun and entertainment but by how you handle things that happen in your life and what actions you take to solve your problems. These fun little things can help you rebound when things get overwhelming and put more color into your life. Focusing too much on work can take the life out of you, so take a break and play around sometimes.

3. Appreciate the present moment

Children like to focus on whatever they are doing at the moment, whether it be playing or they are thinking about something. As a result, they can fully enjoy whatever they are doing without worrying about what will happen next. As adults, we can learn something from them. Sometimes, we get too occupied thinking about the future, worrying about our bills, and worst-case scenarios that may or may not happen. It's not only the future, but we also get stuck sometimes in the past, thinking about how life was so much better when you were younger. We need to learn how to stop worrying and get in the moment more as it can help us be more appreciative of the little things around us that we may be neglecting due to feeling too occupied.

4. Drop the fake act

We, as adults, have this tendency to roleplay. Depending on the environment, we act out a persona that is different from who we are as a person. For example, one may act more professionally in the workplace while being more open and jolly when you're at home. Also, we may behave differently depending on the people with us at a specific moment. We may be more guarded and quiet with people not close to us. On the other hand, we may be more boisterous and open when we are with our friends and family. This changing of persona can be stifling and tiring when we often have to keep an act to fit in with others. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to show others who you are without worrying what they will say or think about you, just like how a child doesn't care what others think about them? We can be more honest with ourselves and others by telling them how we feel and think about them.

5. Live life like an adventure

Children are experts at creating vivid imaginations in their heads and turning mundane experiences like walking on a concrete road into fantasy experiences like walking on a grassy path towards the king's castle. Life is like an adventure for them as they discover and learn new things and play around with their imagination to think and act like they are a superhero or a warrior out to save the land. Children are pretty creative when thinking of new ways to do things, and they can be quite huge risk-takers in that they are not afraid to do new things. All these behaviors are something we can adopt as grown-ups to gain a new perspective on life and bring more joy to it.

Who says you can't be a young child again?

If you think about it, we adults are still very much like children. We just happened to have bigger and taller bodies, but deep inside, we still have our old behaviors as a child. For example, we feel sad when we don't get what we want; the only difference is that we don't throw tantrums anymore, such as crying. However, we still need attention and want to be appraised and noticed by our peers. Whenever somebody disagrees or does something terrible to us, we still have that urge to fight them, although we might not immediately resort to punching the other person in the face. We have our inner children in all of us; we only need to recognize and reawaken them. Instead of staying only as childhood memories, we can continue to do the things that give us joy and satisfaction as a child, even as we reach adulthood. We only need to imagine and keep our dreams alive because there isn't anything that's restricting us from keeping our inner child alive. Usually, it's only our minds that do it.