I absolutely LOVE the AT&T commercial that’s been on television lately. A guy’s sitting on a bench, visualizing his childhood drawings coming to life, with Gene Wilder singing in the background, “Come with me and we’ll be in a world of pure imagination…” The announcer says, “Remember when you were 5 and anything was possible? Happy 5th birthday again.” The guy on the bench smiles the kind of smile that says, “now I get it!”

Lots of folks write and speak about finding happiness and purpose in life by going back to their childhoods. And I think there’s something to it. In this month’s Success Magazine, there’s an ad for Rosetta Stone (yes I know they’re in the business of selling) that references a child’s ability to learn language as a function of the fact that for a child, every act of learning is an act of play. And that adults can learn at any age if they can tap into their inner child.

My point: For many of us, we were our happiest as kids, when the entire world was a play ground, life was an adventure, and we had none of the answers. Over the years as we became adults, we lost much of the magic that inspired us to explore and believe that anything was/is possible. Our tribe told us what to do, what to say and how to say it, what to fear, what to expect, who to be friends with, who to love, who to marry, when to have kids, and a million other lines of the script that we unwittingly adopted as truth.

Well I’ve come to a point in my life where I’m announcing to the world, “Please stop the ride I want to get off!” I’m not willing to follow tribal scripts anymore and I’m reverting back to my childhood. I’m gonna have fun! Sure I understand about bills and obligations! I get that people have expectations of me and want me to live the way they live, the way most people have lived for more years than I’ve been alive. But I have to say that I no longer care!

I’ve had one version or another of the tribal script on my desk for 46 years, ready for me to refer to whenever I felt unsure. Most of the people who know me, would say that I’ve not been too good at following it. But now I’m throwing it in the garbage can and moving on. It’s time to reclaim wonder, magic, adventure, fun and joy.  

I’m going to become a George Bernard Shaw-ian and live by his mantra: “Some men see things as they are and say why - I dream things that never were and say why not?”

And I’m going to sit on the bench with the my new friend and listen to Gene Wilder sing. And the best part: The bench is long enough for all of us.

Wanna come along?

Carpe Diem!