Wasn’t life simpler when we were kids?
I guess it might depend on when you were a kid. I was an 80’s kid so things were a lot simpler when I was young. No social media. No internet. No smart phones. I mean, no cell phones at all.
We barely had video games and computers were only just starting to break into the mainstream.
Yes, life was simpler then.
I often wonder what it’s like to be a kid now.
It seems tough.
Some adults don’t think so. Some adults think kids today are soft and weak and whiny, entitled brats. That they have no idea what struggle is.
I don’t think that’s really true, though.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I certainly think a lot of kids today could stand to gain some perspective. But I think that things are harder today in ways that we have a hard time fully grasping.
For instance, life is too fast and people are way overstimulated.
Our nervous systems were not built to handle the stimulation we put them through on a daily basis. Everyone knows everything about everything all over the world all the time. Every second of every day there is some news or some opinion or some popular thing that everyone is expected to know about, fully comprehend, and have a perfect opinion about or they are outcast from society.
It’s a lot of pressure.
The images. The videos. The music.
Too much.
The competition is high. The expectation is high to be great.
It’s too much.
Especially for kids. They aren’t equipped to handle it all.
So I have some pity and some compassion for them.
It’s a big, scary, fast, confusing world that they are growing up in. How could we possibly expect them to deal with it all perfectly?
I didn’t really mean for this post to take this turn. It’s just where my mind went when I started thinking about this question.
My own childhood was good, looking back. I mean, I had a good life. I had a good family, good friends (albeit perhaps not a lot of them), a good house. I was safe. I had food to eat and clothes to wear.
It was a good childhood.
I don’t think I always felt that way though. Perhaps I’ve always been a little bit more inclined to some melancholy feelings. I’ve walked through a lot of depression and anxiety throughout my life. So maybe it has tainted things a bit darker than they actually were.
And now looking back I really appreciate my life. I really appreciate my childhood.
I had some really good times.
One thing I really miss is endless sleepover summers with my cousins. I have some cousins who grew up in Georgia and they would come out every summer to Utah and we would just have weeks of sleepovers and hangouts and it is honestly one of my most cherished memories.
We just had fun. We talked, we laughed, we played games, we watched movies. Oh man did we watch movies. I think that’s where my love of movies came from. Watching movies with my cousins when I was a kid.
So much fun. And connection. I just loved the connection. We would stay up late talking and that was the best thing in my life. I loved that.
Still do.
I love deep connection and that probably also came from my childhood with my cousins.
It was easier to just have fun when you were a kid, wasn’t it? There weren’t so many things to worry about. It was easier to stay present. To just be in the moment and be there.
At least that’s how it was for me.
I hope everyone had a childhood like that. Where they could just relax and have some fun and be present. I wish everyone could have cousins like I did. But I know that is pretty rare. I was very blessed.
Anyway, that’s what I miss about being a kid. The simpleness. People were just people. No politics. No races. No differences. Just kids. Just people to play with and talk to.
It felt that way to me.
What do you miss about being a kid? Leave a comment below!
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