Happy New Year, growing down, blood pressure and other things

As the New Year approached, I found myself saying, "I don't usually make New Year's resolutions but this year I am making one: I will have more fun in 2022." It may sound frivolous, but in a world like today's - where we're being torn at by all sorts of chaotic forces - it's easy to forget to have fun. That may be one reason the nation's blood pressure went up in 2021. The world is a grim place in a lot of ways, but it's also beautiful. So, having more fun is enjoying that beauty, at least to my way of thinking.

This resolution came about because of two different inputs. One was a Facebook post by a friend of mine who said he never makes resolutions and added: "Nobody ever resolves to do fun stuff." Well, I intend to prove him wrong, just to be spiteful. 😆

The second piece of it is that I've found myself saying this a lot in the past few months: "The worst thing that ever happened to me was I grew up, so I'm going to grow down now." I picked up the phrase "grow down" from some friends in high school, but I hadn't thought about it much till the past year. 

Like any saying that's even marginally humorous, there's truth to this, but there's exaggeration, as well. So, don't get the idea that I don't like being an adult. The freedom to call your own shots in a way that a dependent child cannot is certainly nothing to sneeze at. 

No. The worst thing about my having grown up is that I gave up on that kid that I was. That kid was genuinely enthusiastic about discovering and creating stuff. That creative energy was a form of love, and too often in my adult life it's been overshadowed by the struggle for the legal tender (as Jackson Browne put it). I have said far too often that the thing that I was supposed to fall back on fell on top of me. My work career ate up time and resources that I will never get back and closed certain doors forever. 

So, what to do? Resolve to have more fun and grow down to be that enthusiastic explorer and builder of worlds once more. It's time. Like another friend said, I'll never be younger than I am right now, so I'd better get started. 

May 2022 bring all of us some blessings or boons to soften the blows that will come as well.