How many times have you resisted doing something fun all because you were afraid of what others would think? “Oh I am too old to do that!” you would say, even though in the back of your mind, you are dying to do it, but are paralyzed by the fear of judgement.

At what point in our lives do we stop living with the freedom like that of a child? Is it when we first get teased? Is it the first time we hurt ourselves? Is it the first time we hear from someone whose opinion we don’t even value, that we aren’t supposed to act or play this way? Is it the first time we hear it from our parents?

So often, the people who we love to be around are those who play with abandon. They are not bound by the parameters of age, maturity or what will happen in the morning. They just live in the moment and enjoy it by playing with abandon; they always seem so happy! And that is the whole key to it right there, being present. The moment we worry about tomorrow, or the opinions of others when it comes to how we play, that is the moment we are taking ourselves out of the moment and out of our happiness.

I get it, we have responsibilities and morals, but to play with abandon does not mean we must play recklessly or in such a way that it could hurt others. Living in the moment and being happy does not mean you must put yourself in harm’s way or that of others. That being said, we have a responsibility to be happy and present for those we love. We owe it to them to play with abandon, to share the joy and to be a shining light in a dark room. You know that feeling when you are in the presence of that one who lights up a room, imagine if everyone was like that, what a fantastic world it would be!

I will admit, I do struggle with playing with abandon. I still hold the pain of being teased in grade school whenever I played without a care in the world, enough so that I stopped trusting those around me. Instead of believing that this moment will be one that I will never get back, instead, I banked on the opinion of others to keep me happy. I need to keep working on trusting myself at the moment that I am playing. I know when I master that, I will find even more happiness in every moment I live.

Life always has a way of beating us down. Whether it be others opinions of us or our opinions of ourselves. It could be social status or money. It could even be the pain of our past. All of this piles up, and we lose our innocence of living in the spontaneity of this moment, we can only do that when we genuinely play with abandon. Heck, you might even learn something about yourself!

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This blog post is part of a series of 26 that focuses on finding your inner happiness. Please check out the rest of the series here: The ABC’s of a Happy Life