I believe strongly that our childhood is the most important period of our life, not because it defines who we are for life, but it has a very strong impact on the people we will become. Many of us go through periods of time in our childhood that may affect us or our beliefs for life. I am a strong believer that people can change if they want to, but it is incredibly hard to escape things that happened when we were young. On the flip side I believe many of us are also trying to relive the experiences we had during our childhood, for life.
There is a saying that when you are a child you have time and energy but no money, as an adult money and energy but no time and when you are old you have money and time but no energy. I think this is relevant as it outlines three stages in our life that we go through and the hobbies or interests that might go through them. I personally have a very fond memory of my childhood, even if things were bad at times, I remember the good times that I would kill for these days. Having a few good friends, hanging out after school and just being kids was the best time of my life. These days we hardly keep in touch, everyone is doing their own thing and it honestly makes me sad.
I think part of the reason many people like me collect things we couldnt afford during our childhood was that we are desperately trying to go back. Yes you could say we are manchildren, but I think at the heart of it, we just want to go back to a time we were happy. I talk to the friends I have now and everyone just seems miserable. The highlight of their week is going out and getting shitfaced enough to forget the week and do it all over again. This isn't what I consider a good time and often pass on these outings. As an adult it is hard to make friends as well which only adds to the feeling of being alone. I buy things that remind me of my childhood because they make me remember the good times for a moment.
There are benefits to being an adult but honestly im not sure that I will ever completely grow out of the child that is inside me. I would probably say that isnt a good thing, but we only have a limited time so if buying something from your childhood makes you happy, do it. I wish I could be like everyone else and move on, but its hard when you just arent excited about what the future holds. I like simple and things back then were simple and there was no looming expectation of you to meet people's and society's standards. Now I feel like if im doing something that is out of the norm I am look down upon.
I know im not the only one that feels liken this and I know many other people that are desperately trying to hold onto any part of their childhood that they can. I doubt I will be successful in the long run and part of me wishes my friends of old thought the same. I wish we could get together every weekend huddled around the tv playing video games like we used to, but real life gets in the way. People have work that needs to be done, bosses to please, ect. Adult life is complicated and in my perception, it hold many undesirable traits. You work your ass off, barely get recognized, live a dreadful life, finally get to retire then die. Im oversimplifying it, but you can see where im coming from. I would give up everything I have now to go back to those days with my friends just being kids.
-Calaber24p