When I was eight years old, my favorite thing to watch on tv was professional wrestling. I read the Magic Tree House book series like it was the Bible, and I hated walking long distances. I was chubby with a buzz cut and had asthma (which got me out of a lot of P.E. classes). I had the personality of a 30 year old, and I didn't have many friends my own age, but that may have been because I was really weird.
Eight year old me did not know any better. Eight year old Michael Jones was happy with himself and just lived life the way he knew how. Now I'm a 20 year old college sophomore. I work a part time job, which helps me make my car payment every month. I'm still chubby, but I've gained a sense of style and no longer am sporting the buzz cut. My pastimes include watching the news and researching different college programs in hope that I find one that interests me. Napping is my only hobby, and the newspaper is about the only thing I read.
My childlike innocence is gone. Like a large number of people my age, everyday is a crisis of trying to figure out what it is I want to do with my life. I have no clear path or goal in mind. I often wonder what my eight year old self would do if he saw me now. Looking at me, he would probably say something along the lines of, "Hey. You need to do something." He wouldn't care about not knowing what my college major is going to be. All he would care about is the fact that professional wrestling is no longer my favorite TV show. He would probably go off on some tangent with facts that most normal people do not know or care about (come to think of it, I still do that).
I know I am not the only person that thinks about things like this. It's a wonder to look back at ourselves as children, and think about where we are now and how we have changed. More thank likely, you have lost your fair share along the way, and maybe gained a little too. Would your child self recognize you now?
Adulthood sucks. There is no drawn out, aesthetically pleasing way to say it. Part of us is lost as we grow up. The things that amazed us as children we no longer notice. We stop finding shapes in the clouds, or gazing at the stars, or pretending we have superpowers. We let life drag us down and forget that at one time there was a fire inside of us that refused to die. We dreamed big and weren't afraid to fall.
In a weird way your eight year old self lived life better than you are now, probably. No worries, no cares, a wild imagination, and a heart that felt for everyone and everything. But somewhere far down inside of us is the eight year old you once were. While you may be freaking out about bills, work, or college, the eight year old inside of you is saying to you, "You'll be alright."
