Why were we in such a rush to grow up? No honestly.

Lately life has changed for me drastically. Sometimes, adulthood has a way of consuming you with routines and responsibilities.

Go to work. Pay bills. Cook food. Clean the house. Go back to work. Pay more bills. Try and go to the gym. Make time for family and friends.

Blah, Blah, Blah.

So, honestly, why were we even such a hurry to grow up?

With the stresses of adulthood comes doubt, anxiety, depression, worry, and a whole host of other emotions. But on the flip side, adulthood comes with accountability.

ACCOUNTABILITY (/əˌkoun(t)əˈbilədē/): noun: an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions.

NOW MY DEFINITION — I think accountability is a VERB. It’s what you DO. Low-key, I think it’s a compound word. As an adult, accountability means recalling the accounts of our lives: the highs, the lows and our ability to accept the past, impact the present and change the future.

When we really think about it, our childhood experiences have helped shape who we are today. One thing I have learned in adulthood is that sometimes, you have to go BACK to childhood.

Go back and do the things that 8 year old you, 10 year old you, 14 year old you, etc., used to do.

(inserts Beyonce’s “Find your Way Back”)

I’m talking about the things you did simply because they made you HAPPY. Before everything became about productivity, performance, and responsibility. Before you started questioning whether something was worth your time because it didn’t contribute to a paycheck, a promotion, or somebody else’s needs.

What if part of being accountable to your adult self is also being accountable to the child you once were?

C.H.I.L.D. — Cultivating Healing, Identify, Love & Discovery

Reconnecting with childhood interests and activities can be more than just reminiscing. Through the lens of the Strengthen Based Perspective, Lifespan Development Theory, Ecological Systems Theory we can explore how our experiences, relationships, environments, and existing strengths continue to influence our development throughout life.

Revisiting the things that once brought us joy can create opportunities to:

In many ways, adulthood is an opportunity to reparent ourselves. We are learning to validate, connect with, and nurture the emotional needs that developed during our formative years. We are giving ourselves permission to experience the care, patience, play, and affirmation we need now.

For Black folks, this conversation can hold another layer of meaning. Reconnecting with ourselves can also mean reconnecting with our cultural roots, collective interconnectedness, and creativity. It can be an act of radical hope: choosing to imagine a life where responsibility and joy can coexist, where healing doesn’t require us to abandon who we are, and where caring for ourselves strengthens how we show up for our communities.

Because maybe the goal isn’t to become a child again.

Maybe the goal is to grow into adulthood without abandoning the child within us.

So, if you could go back to the days when life felt a little less complicated, what would you do?

Would you ride your bike around the neighborhood? Draw? Dance? Play a sport? Write stories? Build something? Spend hours doing absolutely nothing but enjoying yourself?

Whatever it was, what would it look like to make room for it TODAY?

I’m curious: What did your younger self LOVE to do that your adult self needs to make time for again?

P.S. Writing with pen and paper on the Amtrak is NASTY WORK.