It’s almost never a good idea to be an adult. Trust me, I tried it for awhile. It felt stiff and inauthentic. Worse yet, it just wasn’t very much fun. Here are the top reasons why you should mimic Peter Pan and never grow up.
1. You Can’t Play Anymore
If this isn’t a reason to stay forever young then I don’t know what is. Remember when everything was an adventure? You’d wake up excited to see what the world had to offer that day. You’d rightfully discount nonsense like worrying about which jeans look best for your butt, or what crazy tie to wear on crazy tie Fridays.
You had stuff to do. Important stuff. None more important than having fun. If it wasn’t fun, then why bother doing it?
I regularly go out and play on playgrounds with my other “adult” friends. It probably looks funny, but it is undoubtedly awesome. I push my friends on the swings. I push girls into snow. Occasionally I even tickle! Does it sound childish? I hope so. 
2. Worrying About How You Look
Speaking of which jeans make your behind look the smallest, this one is equally ridiculous. Not being able to play anymore means you have to find other, more boring stuff to take up your time with. One of these things is the bad habit of worrying about what you see in the mirror.
I don’t understand this one at all, mostly because I don’t walk around with a perpetual mirror in front of me. Other people might have to look at me, but I certainly don’t. What’s the big deal?
Exercise regularly, sure. That makes a lot of sense. But most of it doesn’t. In terms of sheer dumbness, worrying about the dimensions of your face, quality of your skin, and your overall body type as determined by genetics is second only to worrying about what you put on the outside of these things, i.e. clothes and other ornaments.
The truth is, no one is really that concerned with what you look like. Maybe your significant other, or perhaps your mom, but that’s about it. And even your mom only cares because she thinks other people care. If I find that I’m spending too much time in front of the mirror, I usually find something more useful to do. Like staring at the sun. At least you’ll learn something from that one!
3. Keeping Up With the Jones’
This is definitely one of the sillier aspects of being an adult. Even when I used to try to be all grown up, I didn’t try to be this much of an adult. The next time you peer through the hedges to assess the quality of Mr. And Mrs. Jones’ relationship (and I know you do!), consider the following:
- You’re watching them live their life. Go live your own.
- Comparing yourself to others is a great way to be unhappy.
- You really are a special, unique snowflake, and no Jones can take that away from you
- Sticks and stones can break my bones, but Bentleys and rose gardens never hurt anyone. Except that one time.
- There are better things you could be doing. Like staring at the sun.
Some people actually believe that you can get enough nutrition directly from the sun to stop eating, much like a plant. That sounds a lot better than keeping up with the other monkeys. Hey, devoting your life to photosynthesizing is actually pretty cool. At least you’re (sort of) original!
4. You Dress Dumb. Really Dumb
This one flows naturally out of #2 and #3. Worrying about your physical appearance and keeping up with other people has lead to all sorts of atrocities throughout history. I’m not talking about colorful scarfs and over-sized sun glasses. At least they’re fun to look at. I’m talking about loafers, dress shoes, and ties.
If you absolutely have to participate in crazy tie friday, you might as well be the talk of the office. Consider buying something like the following:
Photo by: jelene
Relegating your creative expression to a suit ornament isn’t ideal, but that’s what adults do – they sacrifice.
5. You Do a Lot of Boring Stuff
One of the things I noticed when I was acting like an adult all the time was that I spent a lot of time doing really, really boring stuff. I’m not even talking about things like taxes and filling out forms. My apologies if you’re an accountant and you’re really satisfied with life.
I’m talking about everything you do. Where is the sense of wonder? The sense of adventure that you used to have? Do you ever wonder where the stranger on the bus came from and what their story is? If you even acknowledge their existence, you’re probably ahead of most adults. How often do you approach people and really get to know them? True quote:
“A fairly bright boy is far more intelligent and far better company than the average adult.” – John B. S. Haldane
If you’re like most adults, then you go about your daily tasks responsibly. You might become adventurous enough to try a new kind of coffee for brunch, but that’s about it. You never stay up too late, lest your boss take away your Scooby snacks. Woof, woof! Good puppy!
Everything is in its rightful place, but it’s not really living, is it?
6. You Fear Death. A Lot.
The fear of death is the biggest waste of time. It’s worse than any of these, and yet adults seem to do it more than anyone. It’s like as you get closer to dying, you waste more and more time worrying about it. Not very logical, is it?
What kid worries about dying? There’s too much to live for to think about death. This one falls almost exclusively in the adult-only domain.
If you worry a lot about dying, I recommend meditating on death. Sit down, clear your mind, and see the end of your life. Imagine your own funeral if it helps. What would people say about you? What would you want them to say about you? This can really give you some perspective. Go into that fear, rather than running away from it.
But most importantly, use that fear to create an amazing life. Go out and do cool stuff. Live like there’s no tomorrow. Go outside and play. There’s about a million things you can do that are more productive than worrying about death.
Voice of Jeff Foxworthy: If you took this post seriously and were at all upset, you might be an adult. Oh the horror! 
Off topic: I had a guest article about how to train your mind for success go up yesterday on pickthebrain.com – check it out!
Also, don’t forget to connect with me so you can keep updated with all my super awesome content. Bonus points if you click the StumbleUpon button below.
No related posts.
If my work here has been helpful to you and you'd like to give me a serious case of the warm fuzzies, then please consider donating:
Thanks Fred, you just described me to a Tee. Just kidding, I too have a tendency to take life too seriously at times. Thanks for the reminder to have more fun and to lighten up. I generally do not focus much on what others are doing with themselves.
And yes you should be spending at least 15 minutes a day in the sun. The sun gives positive energy to the body and soul.
Haha! We can get so stressed out at times, I just had to make a post poking fun at people.
True that about the sun – gotta love that Vitamin D. The weather has been amazing here lately. I’m grateful for that.
Nice post Fred!
Good to see a creative article instead of the typical “You can do anything you put your mind to” articles that float around the self-help internets.
Thanks a bunch David.
One of the things I realized when I started floating around a bunch of self help and personal development sites was that most of it was boring, rehashed material you could get anywhere. I set my mind to not only create valuable, quality content, but to make it as entertaining as possible. I’m glad you liked it, you surely are not a dreaded “adult” after all!
Amen to adults doin boring stuff. How many people’s jobs out there are variations of pencil sharpening.
And yep…the boring adults did tell me to put the games away when I turned 18 lol
Hahaha. Variations of pencil sharpening, that made me laugh.
Just so you know, even adults are allowed to play Black Ops. Actually, children are the only ones who can’t!
As a victim of your pushing girls in the snow, I must say, that is just plain RUDE! =)
This was a good article, I love swinging at the park, as you know. I may not like walking around the trail with you in flip flops when you throw snow balls at me, but the playground – that is a whole different story. I enjoy our time at playgrounds.
I do believe another picnic is in order. That might have been one of the first times I actually stopped to look around at things with you, or without you! The leaves everywhere and just sitting there, knowing we didn’t have to be doing anything else better/important/adult-like was great.
Hooray! =D
Yes, more picnics, especially now that the weather is getting better!
Nice one Fred!
I couldn’t concieve of being an adult. What a waste of time. Being serious is really a pretty silly thing if you think about it.
Andrew
Hahaha. I know, right? I spent about a year of my life being a full-blown adult, and looking back, it was really just one big, boring mess. Glad I stopped that.
Loved this post! I just liked it on Facebook but can’t see it on my page – maybe you need one of those “share” buttons for facebook?
Anyway, I’ve often compared my life now to when I was a kid – and the comparison and sense that I’ve “lost” something has been a driving force in my personal development. In a sense, I’m almost trying to turn back the clock.
Whatever the essence of being a kid was – the sense of adventure, the fearlessness, the emotional durability – it’s coming back as I continue my healing work. It’s priceless.
I think this article touches on something huge. Thanks.
Thanks for letting me know about the facebook thing. I didn’t realize it wasn’t sharing on walls, but it makes sense. Right now, I have the facebook “like” button pointing to my main facebook page, so if you click like, you become a fan. I think that having it like the individual article and post it on your wall makes more sense though, as my page is accessible by the Twitter and RSS buttons. I’ll fix it shortly!
And yeah, I read something interesting about that sense of adventure of a kid vs. how most of us feel as adults. I think it comes down mainly to how much ego we have, and by that, I mean how conceptualized our world is. It’s like as children we’re constantly in the Now, completely present, and in wonder at the awe and majesty of what’s around us.
As we grow up, our relationship with the present moment sours, and we constantly seek to escape it via conceptualization and other tactics. I think these things our directly related.
That is, our sense of happiness and peace is directly related to our relationship with the present moment, also known as our level of consciousness. As you know, it’s really hard to maintain that state! Practice makes perfect, I suppose.
One of my least favourite phrases is ‘settle down’ as in ‘it’s time I settle down and have kids.’ It sounds like a self imposed prison sentence. Why settle? Dust settles. Whatever your current ride is, bring the kids and wife or husband along with it. Yay!
No I never made the mistake of growing up. It never looked like much fun from a kids perspective so I decided to pretty much avoid it.
pea recently posted..Sustainable Woodland Home
I knew you’d say something like that Pea. You have far too much fun in the comments to be a true “adult.” Gross!
Yeah I agree about settling down. If you do want to have kids, like you said, bring them on for the wild adventure. But don’t relegate yourself to a life of boredom just to provide for your children.