Historic jail in Liberty, Missouri. Liberty jail – what a sad contradiction.

I had the opportunity today to visit some historical, religious sites of great significance, and they left me thinking.

Do you remember those things, actions, experiences that brought you joy when you were younger? If you do remember, how much have you “moved on” from those as you’ve “grown up?” Do you realize that sometimes the best thing is to return to what initially brought us joy because that is where joy is to be had?

As we age and think we mature, we often turn away from “childish” things. For some, we even endorse this with religious justification (“when I was a child…”). I think we are too quick sometimes to reject what we loved and what brought us happiness in the past simply because we’ve assigned it to a different time of our lives or a “less mature” age.

We believe we know what is better or what will make us happier, and in so doing we make ourselves bitter and less happy, if not outright unhappy.

I realized this today about myself. Many times I have fallen into the trap of “growing up.” For me the biggest factor in my rejection of good things is my recognition of how short mortality is. Whether there’s an afterlife or no, the time we have in this life is super-short. We cannot do a tenth of those things we’d like to do.

My response to this recognition has been to reject what does not apply to my writing or income-making. Don’t get me wrong, these are not my only motivations, and they are not my only pursuits, but most of my longer-lasting decisions are based with these in mind. Well I realized something about this: in rejecting certain of these great “childish” things, I pushed myself from sources that would help me reach my desired outcomes.

By trying to focus on my goals, I’ve distanced myself from achieving them.

How odd is that? I’ve already recommitted to fixing this error and making things right, but it got me wondering how often we do this. What beliefs, actions or things have you given up in life only to realize later (or now as you think about it) that those things are exactly what you need in order to achieve your goals?