As I rode the Metro back from Washington D.C. last night I watched a kid, probably about 4th, maybe 5th grade at most, jumping and hanging from the hand rails that are attached to the roof of the train. The train was completely packed, everyone was completely miserable standing there, squished in like sardines, but this kid was having a blast. This scene makes me realize that we, as adults, don’t make fun like kids do. Now I am certainly not the first person to have this realization, I’m pretty sure every adult has realized this at some point. But why? That’s the age old question: why are kids so much better at creating fun and enjoy than adults? Immediately the answers everyone’s heard before jump to mind:
“Adults have so much else on their mind we don’t have enough time to use our imagination enough to be able to create like that.”
“Adults are too stressed out to use our imaginations like kids do.”
“Adults have had their imagination quelled by an education system that asks us to do only what we’re told, when we’re told, and discouraged from doing any more.”
Those are all very valid points and all have some merit to them. But I think there’s another reason we don’t create fun like kids do: if we did, we’d be considered insane.
Think about it. We’ve all be bored out of our mind at work before, right? So, what if one day you’re at work, walking down the hall and you look into your friend’s office and you see your friend talking to no one. The first thing you would probably do is assume they have their Blue Tooth in and keep walking. But let’s say you didn’t notice a clunky thing attached to their ear like a giant toomer, making them look like a huge tool, and were surprised.
“Hey Bob,” you say, “you on the phone?”
“Nope, just talking to my friend Jeffery.”
You’re a bit lost…Does Bob have telepathy? You wonder. Cause that would be awesome if he did! “Where’s Jeffery?” you ask.
“He’s right here, standing next to my desk,” Bob says.
There’s definitely no one there…
“I guess you guys have never met,” Bob continues, “I just met Jeffery the other day. Jeffery this is Bob, Bob this is Jeffery…Jeffery says it’s nice to meet you.” Bob then leans across the desk and says, “Jeffery’s a little shy. Takes him a while to warm up to people.”
You know as soon as you left that office, you were going straight to your computer to look up the mental health authorities and have them come take Bob away.
But what if Bob was just really bored and decided to kick it old-school and create an imaginary friend to entertain him? Kids do it all the time and they’re not considered crazy, why should adults?
I’m not saying we should all act like kids all the time (although that would be pretty cool for a couple days.) I’ve watched enough afterschool programs to know that if everyone acted like a kid all the time, society would go into chaos – although the shows are only ever 30 minutes long, so who know, maybe society would have just evened itself out eventually, maybe by the 60 minute mark. What I’m saying is be a little more like kids, sometimes. On those days in the office that there’s nothing to do try creating an imaginary friend. He/She could give you hours of entertainment, and allow you to work on those interpersonal skills your boss has been on you to improve (you scream at one waiter at one corporate lunch and all the sudden your interpersonal skills need improvement. It’s complete BS, I know.) Or maybe organize an office-wide game of hide-and-seek. That’s a game you can play all day and it never gets old, the only reason you stop as a kid is for dinner. Better yet, organize a scavenger hunt! Those things are the shit! Just grab a whole bunch of things: your stapler, a box of push pins, that picture on your wall, your laptop…okay, maybe not your laptop, but still. Grab a bunch of things and hide them around the office, then go tell your co-workers to find them, whoever finds the last thing gets to hide them again.
I think you’ll be surprised how awesome it would make your day.
Leave a Comment so far
Leave a comment
