5 questions to ask your inner child 🎨
Where's your inner child?
On Saturday night I went to a friend's 30th birthday party. The theme was 'regression'.
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(Luckily none of the scientists and statisticians took this interpretation of the theme.)
There was a mix of favourite tv shows, books and childhood heroes and a few of us who went as a younger version of ourselves.
As I reached for the black eyeliner for the first time in (quite) a few years to revive my inner-goth I had an interesting feeling of liberation.
The look I had to squash for the sake of 'appropriateness' when I joined professional services aged 18, was suddenly empowered and free. Funnily a few long-standing friends commented on social media that I 'looked like me'.
It made me wonder, when does the 'child you' stop being you? When does it start being what the other ‘kids’ are being and doing what they’re doing?
Of course, some things are best left in the past (both behaviours and fashion choices) but there's a lot of value in reflecting on our younger selves; what we enjoyed doing and how that manifests now (or not).
I wrote about this topic last year, and this party was a timely catalyst to re-reflect on the questions;
What did you like to do, what kind of games did you play?
What role did you have?
Where do you see those things playing out in your adult life (especially at work)?
What made you happy?
Do you still do the things you enjoyed the most as a child?
Read:Â What did your inner child do when they grew up?
For me, reading has been a grounding habit to get back into (and a throwback to my youth) along with making sure I get enough creative outlet in my work.
As for the eyeliner making a comeback...
We'll see.
How will you revive your inner child?
"Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog."
Roald Dahl
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