When I was a little girl, I would dream of the Hundred Acre Wood and Christopher Robin and his best friends. I would wish that I could escape on my farm in a hollowed out tree and come out on the other side to find another world. Well, I tell you what, I did just that in my tiny 5-year-old mind. But as we grow up, we learn that playtime isn't tolerated and that it's a waste of this thing called time.

Well, if you aren't careful and you let time and growing up get the best of you, the only thing that's going to be looking back at you in the mirror is one big and ugly Heffalump.

I went into the theater with my little brother with the mindset that I was going to get to relive my childhood and sing along to the "Winnie The Pooh" theme song and just have a good time. Well, within 15 minutes of the film, I was already crying because I had realized that I had left my tiny 5-year-old mind in the past — just like Christopher Robin left Pooh when he went off to boarding school.

Christopher Robin is like most of us — a smart young child who wants to make his parents as happy as possible. Sound familiar? I know it sounds like me for sure. Once I hit middle school, I was determined to be the best of the best by bringing home top marks and doing anything my mother suggested that I should do. The bookcase that held my spy books and mystery adventures soon became dusty and my stuffed animals hadn't seen a tea party in, well, a very long time.

And as I look back on that young girl who was so determined to please everyone but herself, I realize that I lost one of the most important things that life has to offer — "an imagination."

"As I sat in the dark theater, watching silently, I began to realize that there's a Christopher Robin in each and every one of us. "

The corporate gurus, or anyone that is driven by money and success, can be represented by the grown-up Christopher Robin. He focused on one thing — his job. He let his family vanish away and with them, he let the Hundred Acre Wood disappear as well.

But as you peer onto the screen and look among the theater, you'll hear giggles and see that children can relate to the young Christopher Robin when he was a boy. If you watch their faces close enough, you can see the recognition that they give Christopher Robin or Winnie the Pooh — as if they've been friends years before the film was made.

But not only children can relate to the young Christopher Robin. If you're lucky, you'll be like my grandmother who has the imagination of a 5-year-old and lives every day like it's one big adventure.

Of course, you don't have to be all of one Christopher Robin — you can be the adult and the young all in one. The key is to find the balance, something we all struggle with when reaching this thing we call "adulthood."

It seems impossible to find the right amount of seriousness to associate with fun, and often, the seriousness tends to outweigh the fun and then the fun disappears completely and that's when you become a "Heffalump."

Are you asking yourself, "Well, how do I find the balance?" Well, I wish I had the answer for you because that would just be the easiest solution, however, nothing comes "that "easy. But follow the advice of the wise Winnie the Pooh which goes something like this, "If you've lost something and aren't sure where to go, just turn around, look where you've been, then turn your back and go to a place that you've never been before."

Trying to find the balance of work and play is always a tough one but I think it goes without saying that you aren't going to get anywhere if you don't "try." Take a note from Christopher Robin and put work away on the weekends & focus on your loved ones. Have a little sibling? Put your phone down and take them outside and go on an exploration with them. Have little nieces or nephews? Again, put your phone down or work away and take them outside.

The limits that the outside has are "endless "and that's the joyful thing about it when paired with an imagination.

But, seriously, do you see a common theme about how to find the balance between work and play? No? Well, let me dumb it down for you. Put the work away, the phone away, the distractions away, and go on an adventure! It doesn't even have to be a big adventure of conquering a kingdom, it could just be sitting on your back porch and listening to the symphony of crickets and peepers at night.

Because as Pooh said, "Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."

Simply be aware of your surroundings and you will soon find a calming balance, you silly bear.

I leave you with one last thought — are you going to be the terrifying Heffalump in your life or are you going to the fun-loving Christopher Robin?