How To Embrace Your Inner Child and Find Joy
Finding joy in everything you do needs to be an essential part of life.
Because without it, we become bored humans living dull and monotonous lives.
So if you are due a good old belly laugh and some good times, embrace your inner child and just get silly.
Here’s everything you need to know about connecting with your childlike self.
Back in April, I spent a week in Dubai with two of my closest friends.
And it made me reflect on the entrepreneur space and how there seems to be this emphasis on putting on your head down and just doing the work, no matter what.
To say no to every invite that comes your way and limit time hanging out with friends and having fun
Because you can do all those things once you’ve achieved that goal, are “successful” or making “x” amount of money. And honestly, I believed this myself for a while.
I closed myself off from friends and stopped making an effort to make plans. Instead, I only did things that would improve my personal development and help me grow my business.
But after an episode of burnout, I soon I realised I wasn’t having any fun.
Joy was pretty much non-existent in my life.
And I started to question whether it was actually possible to have fun while building a business.
Because surely, once we’ve reached our goals, isn’t only natural for us to strive for the next set of goals rather than just stepping back for a while?
When are we actually supposed to set aside the time to have fun?
So this year, one of my personal intentions is to invite more fun into my daily life. To laugh often, and do things that spark joy. To hang out with friends, be silly and reminisce over more innocent times.
Because I believe we can have both. To work and to play.
So if you find it difficult to switch off sometimes and frequently miss out on the fun, learn to embrace your inner child and spend time doing the things you used to do as a kid.
What is an inner child?
There is an inner child in all of us.
This is the subconscious part of you that contains all of your earliest memories, thoughts, feelings, hopes and dreams. It is the part of you that remembers how to play.
Your inner child is full of joy and laughter.
It loves unconditionally without any expectations and knows how to have fun.
And in a world that can often feel heavy and burdensome, our inner child is a reminder of all the good things in life.
But our inner child is often hidden away, buried underneath our adult persona.
And it is up to us, to allow it to break free.
“Each one of us has an inner child, or way of being, getting in touch with your inner child can help foster well-being and bring a lightness to life.”
Why tap into your inner child?
When we are kids, our main goal in life is to have as much fun as possible. To be silly with friends, play outside, get muddy and piss our parents off. Our entire purpose is to get into as much mischievous trouble as possible.
But when we reach adulthood, we start to take life way too seriously.
The burden of life’s responsibilities, money, jobs, relationships, social media and the state of the world begin to take their toll and we stop enjoying life.
We walk around with the weight of the world on our shoulders and forget how to have fun.
And some of us, including me in the past, get to the point where the only way we can unwind and let loose is to get drunk.
We become lost and start to disconnect from our true selves.
And when this happens, we lose touch with our inner child.
But just because we are adults, doesn’t mean we should lead boring, monotonous lives where we walk around feeling detached from life.
Life can be fun.
Your day-to-day life can be full of creative, playful and messy moments.
And reconnecting to your inner child can bring back the joy you’re currently missing.
Being in “child mode” allows you to see past the mundane routines and to-do lists that take over your life and that can sometimes seem restrictive and arduous.
Your inner child reminds you that life is supposed to be enjoyed and not just endured.
How to reconnect with your inner child
We all need a break from everything that’s going on in the world from time to time.
And what better way to escape the hustle and grind than by connecting with your inner child?
The inner child within you believes in the possibilities of life and loves nothing more than exploring new ideas and trying out different adventures.
So put yourself into inner child mode for a day and engage in fun activities.
You may find yourself becoming more open-minded as well as feeling gratitude towards everything around you.
A few things to consider when tapping into your inner child are:
- Keeping an open mind
- Spending time doing what you truly enjoy
- Nurturing your creativity
- Being playful
- Engaging in laughter
- Being present
- Practising meditation or visualisation
- Journaling — write a letter to your younger self or about special moments from your childhood
31 fun activities to satisfy your inner child
Let your inner child remind you of all the joys life has to offer.
Step away from your responsibilities and to-do list for a while and embrace laughter and fun.
Here is a list of playful activities you can engage in to help satisfy your inner child:
- Dig out a pair of wellies and go jump in some puddles
- Climb trees
- Play on the swings in the park or playground
- Head to Go Ape or something similar and act like Tarzan for the afternoon
- Go to a water park and float down all the slides — I did this when I was in Dubai, and I honestly, I had the best time ever
- Head to Harry Potter World for the day (or take a trip to Disney Land if you’re feeling kinda bougie)
- Enjoy an evening at the fairground, eat candy floss and go on all the rides
- Build Lego
- Rent a bicycle and go on a fun cycle ride through the park
- Go swimming for fun and splash around
- Look at old photos to bring back memories of your childhood
- Organise a paintballing day-out with friends
- Rent a kayak or canoe and paddle on a lake or river for the afternoon
- Go on a scavenger or treasure hunt
- Head to a roller disco and roller skate like it’s 1980 — dress up for the occasion
- Grab your friends and play a game of Hide and Seek or Forty-Forty It
- Camp with friends
- Rock out to music that you used to listen to as a kid/teen
- Organise an adventurous day out either doing water sports or rock climbing and abseiling
- Go trampolining or head to the foam pit
- Buy some super-soakers and have a water fight with friends or family
- Build a Scalextric circuit
- Play a board game from your childhood like Snakes and Ladders, Twister, Hungry Hippos, Connect-4, etc.
- Head to the arcade and play all the games including the Dance Dance Revolution machine
- Get lost in Hamleys or a local toy store
- Dig out the old Nintendo 64 and play Mario Kart
- DIY your own friendship bracelets
- Get crafty with rock paint
- Sing along to the Ultimate Disney Soundtrack
- Head down to your nearest beach and collect seashells
- Go to karaoke and sing at the top of your lungs
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Final thoughts
I hope you found these tips on how to tap into your inner child helpful and you will start to embrace more fun in your daily life. I encourage you to bookmark this page so you can come back to it whenever you need.
And here’s my advice to you…
Have more fun this month. Whether that is embracing your inner child and being silly, hanging out with good friends or taking yourself out on solo dates.
Forget about your workload for a while and laugh your absolute laugh arse off.
Laughter is the best medicine.
It releases endorphins to make you feel happier and more positive.
So don’t be afraid of taking yourself a little less seriously and making yourself laugh.
It will make all the difference to your day-to-day life.
Plus, laughter is known to boost creativity and productivity so it’s a win-win either way.
Until next week,
Thalia xx
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