Student Blog: I Hope I Never Grow Up

What do you want to be when you grow up? A very important nastagistic question that many grade school teachers ask their students. But somewhere along the lines of growing up, we leave that question behind and move on to more realistic paths in life, whatever that means. It seems to be that dreams are tied to childish ways and as we grow older dreams are forgotten and often disappear and they are no longer talked about. People stop asking you what you want to be when you grow up and it's almost as if when we grow up there's a subconscious thought of 'it's time to put away the fairytales and be serious'.

We eventually will grow up and out of the childish parts of who we were and begin to accept this new world of adulting while still trying to desperately hold on to the childlike innocence we are not yet ready to lose. But I don't think there really is a time to put away childlike ways and be serious. Just because we are grown ups and live in the 'real world' doesn't mean we can't maintain the childlikeness when once held. Growing up and out of childish ways doesn't mean leaving behind childlike qualities of life that make everyday magical.

You are never too old to have dreams or to drop everything and go after them. I think too many people worry about the wrong things in life and have their priorities sideways. Money and sensibility will only take you so far in life. Life is too short to not be happy and do everything you've ever wanted in this world. I think dreams are what keep life exciting and at no point in life should we ever stop dreaming.

These magical parts of life aren't reserved for just children, we only grow out of innocence if we so choose to do so. There is a fine line and distinct difference between being childish and childlike and I hope you never stop being childlike. The world is full of too many serious faced adults who have left a colorful world of imagination behind and not enough wide eyed, playful children. Life is not that serious.

I promise you growing up is a trap. Stay forever young. The world is a very different place through the eyes of a child because they run without the fear of falling or judgement. Somewhere along the way we lose that carefree uniqueness and begin to conform to a bland form of societal expectations and lose that beautiful spark. The world can be a place that sucks the beauty out of life, but it can also be a place that fuels it. I suppose it's not so much that I hope I never grow up as much as I hope I never lose the childlikeness and ability to dream. I hope I never stop smiling. I hope I never lose the spark. I hope I never grow up.

A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you're fast asleep....and may you never stop dreaming.