Why Any Adult Needs To Be a Child For a Day

By Rawan Albina ( @RawanAlbina)

I look at my son and I am amazed by the way he views the world and interacts with it. His eyes are always filled with such curiosity. Life is a playground where he experiments through touching, listening, observing, learning and exploring. The sheer excitement about every little new thing he discovers makes me realise how much we, as adults, take for granted.

The small things that used to mean a lot are replaced with the bigger, more materialistic things over time. Small victories and joys are replaced with larger plans and goals and these goals seem to get bigger as we grow older. We train ourselves to keep our eyes on the target so that when we reach it we do not linger; once a goal is achieved we immediately start making new plans and already have our eyes set on the next goal. As a result, we lose sight of what once meant so much, which causes us to feel disoriented and confused.

Do you find yourself sometimes wondering about how you got to be who you are today? Do you catch yourself having an internal dialogue with your ego wondering since when has the dream of owning a sports car or a designer handbag replaced your dream of making a difference in the world? There is nothing wrong with owning expensive and luxurious things as long as you are aware of which part of you they are satisfying. Some of my clients complain that they do not recognize who they are anymore. They thought that once they have achieved a certain social or financial status they would be happy but they realise that they are not. That is because somewhere along the way they have confused their own values with the values of society and the influential few and have traded their passions for the convenience, the comfort and the fame.

So what really happens on our journey in life? How do we change from the curious beings eager to learn and grow to the over-confident beings eager to retire wealthy and grow too… but younger? Somewhere along the way, our goals start losing some of their identity and start looking more and more like the generic goals of our next door neighbour. As humans we have the power to influence each other therefore affecting the choices we make and the decisions we take. Conforming is always easier than rebelling but there is so much more fire in rebellion, so much more passion, do not you agree?

According to an online dictionary, “passion” means “boundless enthusiasm”. It has been described as an intense, driving and overmastering emotion. It is the “energetic, unflagging pursuit of an aim”. When was the last time you practised having “boundless enthusiasm” about anything? Your energy on a daily basis is usually a good way to gage where you are on the passion-meter. When was your passion-meter at 100? A good way to reconnect with your passion is to remember a time in your life where you felt completely alive and every single ounce of your being was tingling with excitement. What were you doing back then? Who were you being and which part of that person is missing in you today? Reconnecting with that missing part of you often holds the key to unlocking your passion. Find it and try to relate to its core values, its dreams and desires. How did that part of you view the world back then and how has that perspective changed from where you are standing today?

Some of you might not be able to relate to what I am saying at all; while it will completely resonate with others who are ready to really look at themselves in the mirror and see what they need to change in order to get that passion out of the closet and move forward on their road to fulfilment. There is no right or wrong, it is really about what feels good for you. So please stop looking around you for approval and validation. Stop conforming and start questioning. I invite you to get curious, carry your passion in your heart and see the world with the eyes of a child if only for a day.

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Rawan Albina is a Dubai-based professional coach. You can learn more about her and her work by:
– Visiting her website www.leapconsultancy.ae
– Follow her on Twitter @RawanAlbina
– Or join her Facebook Fan Page “Life on a Treadmill”
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