Do you remember the first time you rode a bus?
How about the first time you picked flowers from your grandma’s garden?
Can you still recall the first time you climbed a tree and fell?
Do you still remember how it felt like to play in the rain for the first time?
The first-time experiences of a three-year old are all just simple things, and it’s easy to forget them. But that’s not the point. What I’m trying to say is that three-year-olds are pretty much curious of their surroundings, which is the reason they get to experience things for the first time.
Losing the Curiosity and Spark
As we get older, though, we become more cautious. It does not feel good to fell out of the tree, so it doesn’t make sense to climb. It’s not a good feeling to catch cold, so it’s wiser to just curl up in bed when it rains. In short, we learn to choose comfort. We do things out of necessity and conformity, not out of intentional desire to discover and learn. We go to school because our parents say so, and we try new outfit because celebrities and models inspire us to.
While writing this post, I admit I’m not really in an awesome shape. I’m not joining the bandwagon of fashion and social trends, making me feel awkwardly different from the rest of the world. However, my parents have full confidence that I can find my way. So I sulked in my bedroom for a couple of days just thinking about and creating a to-do list of things I want to do for the first time. Unfortunately, I kept this inside my bag for days without looking at it.
The Scary Bucket List
As adults, we’re supposed to achieve specific milestones in life, whether they’re set by our parents, the society or ourselves. So, we create bucket lists – easy ones, usually, to ensure we remain in our comfort zone as we achieve them. But some of the most life-changing milestones in life can be achieved if we embrace our inner three-year-old superbly curious self and take on totally strange and different things in life. Now, this is the scary part – to pursue something we’re not sure if we’re going to get or not. What if we fail? But what if we succeed?
A Complete 180-Turn
It’s important to remind ourselves at every turn that we’re not the fragile three-year old we once was. We’re now stronger, braver and wiser enough to manage a complete 180-turn and steer our life in a totally different direction.
Embracing our inner three-year-old means becoming more open to new possibilities, experiences and challenges. After all, what makes life more meaningful are the moments we’ve created in a day. Some of us might get lucky to live a hundred years, but knowing that we just have 24-hours to live in a day brings more clarity to our life.