Childishness vs. Child-likeness

We may all not be adults yet but we’ve all been a child before (or we still are). Children are such cute and adorable little Homo sapiens. They ask the most bizarre questions and say the most interesting things. Their smile is so warming and their countenance is flawless. Not to talk of their sweet-smelling and super soft hair.

Nonetheless, they can be very annoying. They run all over the place and mess the whole place up. They break the glass, dirty the sofa, stain their clothes, spill the milk, pull your legs and scream on top of their voices.

Inasmuch as we wanna just whack the shit outta them and make them sit still for just one minute of their lives, we love them wholeheartedly because their energy and vibes are so pure and rare. I believe there are some vital unconscious behaviours – what I call childishness and child-likeness – we can learn from them to make us more mature and live from within.

Childishness

People’s opinions of them mean the world to them

As a child growing up, people’s opinions – especially about them – come together to form their perception of the world. Every word from someone who means something to them is swallowed hook, line and sinker and is believed without thought. Every further reality is built on this, and this reality, be it true or false, can be believed for decades.

What can we learn from this? If you let people’s projected reality and flawed opinions get to you, you’re simply being vulnerable. It is okay to be vulnerable. Truth is, choose to believe yourself over everyone else. But in order to keep your ego in check so you don’t see yourself bigger than you really are, it is important that you surround yourself with people who believe the best about you and will enable you to see your own blind spots.

Dependence on others for literally everything

Children spend a lot of their time crying for toys and sweets. They worry their mothers to get them almost anything bright and colorful they see. Usually, it will be of no use to them but they want it. They are not the ones paying for it. When you don’t give them what they want, they throw temper tantrums and make you look really bad in public.

What can we learn from this? Impulse buying fails to leave us even when we start to pay our own bills. Everything all of a sudden seem attractive within the few days of receiving salary. We feel we have a lot of money to spare – which is usually not the case – and go in for stuff we’ll feel stupid later for buying. It is costly to make an important decision based on mere impulse. Planning beforehand raises our chances of making the right decision at the right time. Otherwise, we’d have to depend on others every time we need something important.  

Lack of urgency

Infants lack the ability to even notice how dicey a particular situation is. The infant can see danger coming and may face it head-on. They will never be able to know how urgent Mummy has to go to work or how important it is for her to complete some tasks. All they do is that they make sure that they are the centre of the universe.

What can we learn from this? Urgency is very important for beginning and completing a task before deadline. Truth is, if one lacks a sense of urgency, one will procrastinate everything that looks like work. Urgency helps us to put our shit together. Without it, we’ll shit immediately we feel like it like infants do. Infants lack a sense of urgency because they lack the capacity to understand the situation, unlike us. Once we sit down to comprehend what is at stake, a sense of urgency kicks in so as to get everything organized and to get things done. Thus, the vital need for retrospection.

…to be continued

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