The Honest Inner Child

I came to the realization recently that some of the things I’m most interested in pursuing now are those things that were my first career goals. Interestingly the things that I decided I wanted to be when I grew up as I moved into junior high were quite different than those that I wanted to be when I was little. Most people would probably think this is pretty normal. Many people grow out of wanting to be a professional athlete, astronaut, firefighter, rockstar, actor, when they realize what it would take and/or what kind of life in which it would result.

Adolescence is generally considered to be a time of finding yourself, figuring out who you are and want to be. In reality this is a time when peer pressure is usually at its greatest. When most people think of peer pressure they think of drugs, drinking, smoking, sex. This is not the kind of peer pressure that was in my teenage life. It was just a time where I wanted to spend all my time with my friends, be liked by my friends and pretty much everyone else. Perhaps as a result of this I didn't always know what I really liked or wanted.

Maybe losing yourself a little is important to be able to find your true self as you grow up. A lot of people are told to find their inner child, that’s probably a good idea, because children are so honest, and even if they do have a naïve world view, what’s wrong with having big dreams? If you’ve come to realize that maybe you don’t want your life to be an open book as it would be as an actor or rockstar, or spend your life in a gym as you would as an athlete, then you can put those childhood dreams in perspective, and maybe find your true self.