Children see the world through the purest eyes. Even though my family raised me with accurate expectations of adulthood, I still fell victim to the naivety that besets all children.
Growing up, we believe that adults have it all figured out. Through our youthful eyes, we believe in their stability, their ability to solve all problems, and assume they have some aptness for navigating the world and all it’s many problems. I thought my parents could do anything. After all, they had established careers, were world travelers, and managed multiple properties and accounts. They raised me without a helmet, to evaluate the world through mature eyes, and that I was ultimately responsible for my choices and future.
That didn’t stop me from believing the myth of childhood.
At 36 years old, I know as well as the rest of you that we never stop feeling human, helpless, and at times a little bit lost. There is no real gap between the type of humanity you experience as a child and that you do as an adult. Sure, you mature, you learn from mistakes, you navigate the world a little easier, and you know how to pay your taxes.
That doesn’t mean life doesn’t still catch you off guard, still feeling like a kid, pulled in many directions. At times as adults we feel ill-equipped, caught off guard, confused, and wondering where the manual was for the problems we face.
As a kid, I didn’t believe this was reality. Sometimes I still find it hard to reconcile.
Where did the years go? And when do we actually feel like our perception of an adult from all those years ago?
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