Hello, hello! I’m writing this at one of my favourite cafés on a sunny Friday.
On a day like today, when my re-jigged working hours leave me free to go off and do my own thing, it’s hard to feel anything but enthusiastic about life. I know, ew.
In a recent podcast episode, Emma Gannon talked about the value and sheer joy to be found in listening to your inner child. I’ve been thinking about that quite a bit this week, wondering what I do and what I could do more of to pander to mine.
🧸 The inner child
For a while, I thought this was a bit ‘woo-woo’. But in recent months, I’ve come around to the idea of taking care of your inner child.
Emma explains that on a really basic level, we’re all the kid version of ourselves inside:
If you lose that, it can get quite dark. I think adult life is really hard, and so joy and colour and vibrancy and play and looking after a dog and watching films — these are all things that actually make a good life, not just the outward appearance of being really successful.
- Emma Gannon on the Sound Advice podcast
You can let your inner child run free in lots of different ways. You could start by wearing things you love (e.g. my chunky editor glasses and leopard print dungarees), or surrounding yourself with things that bring you joy (e.g. all the books, witchy trinkets, prints by my favourite artists).
But then there’s what I want to call ‘acts of childhood’. By that I mean indulging in the hobbies and interests that make you happy, and that probably made you happy before society made its mark on you and had you thinking you either had to excel at something or monetise it (or both) for it to be worthwhile.
In my case, that would mean doing things like:
Doodling and drawing.
Playing with clay/pottery.
Trying to learn piano again.
Spending hours and hours reading.
Playing video games.
Taking up photography again.
Reading comic books.
Trying a bit of acting, for fun.
But here’s the difficult bit for our adult brains: don’t put pressure on yourself to excel at the thing. You are meant to sit and enjoy the act of creating, of doing, just for the sake of it.
For example, if I enjoyed reading a book, I can do without putting pressure on myself to write a review after, or make something ‘productive’ out of the fact I enjoyed reading that book.
You don’t have to aspire to be the next Artemesia Gentileschi or L.S. Lowry to make art. You don’t need to be the next Stephen King or Margaret Atwood to give yourself permission to write. You don’t need to be the next Mozart to play music.
And you sure as hell don’t need to monetise your hobbies. You can just enjoy it, maybe with a little glass of wine if you like.
🏖️ Sanctuary in (capitalist) chaos
In these burnt-out, stressed-out times, doing things ‘just because’ is almost an act of rebellion. Resistance against the capitalist imperative to attach a monetary value to everything you do.
The real value lies in the fact that doing things in the name of your inner child can be a sanctuary — if you give it enough time. It can become an escape from the noise and distractions of day-to-day life, where you can immerse yourself in the now.
So, let's promise to embrace our inner child. Let’s go off in search of what would bring them joy.
Above all, in moments where you can’t be kind to yourself, be kind to the childhood version of yourself.
What does your inner child want to do? How would you spend your time if money and accolades weren’t a factor?