I love Southern California and try to get out there as often as possible. There’s something about the LA beach towns that invigorate and inspire me. We recently took the whole fam out to CA and did the full kid circuit: Disneyland, California Adventure, LEGOLAND, the beach, the ocean…the whole thing.

As my wife and I watched the kids jumping up and down and running around on the beach and into the freezing cold ocean with the sheer unbridled joy only possessed by those pure of heart, my wife turned to me smiling and said “oh to be a kid again”.

When the simple things in life like a building a sand castle, running with the waves as they splash on the beach, literally vibrating with excitement and wonder. Oh to be a kid again.

I experienced this same nostalgic feeling a few years ago on my EO Forum Retreat in Nashville. Tom and I were in a bar standing on the sidelines, watching the band electrify the early 20-somethings with 70s rock and 90s hits one after another. The band had the crowd in the palm of their hands. 

Watching them dancing and singing, smiling and laughing, I leaned towards Tom’s ear and yelled over the music “Remember when it was like that? No pressure to make payroll or be a good dad. Not a dollar in your pocket, but not a care in the world…your only job was having a good time.” Oh to be a kid again.

I’ll never forget what Tom said next…

“Well, what’s stopping us from doing that right now. Let’s get out there!”

…and we spent the next hour dancing, fist pumping, and singing at the top of our lungs along with those 20-somethings, with a few dollars in our pocket, but no cares in the world. All the weight…much lighter, all the constraints…much freer.

Although, it does take a little more to get the juices flowing now then when I was a kid, that’s no excuse to every once in a while, channel my inner six year old, drop the pretenses, and just enjoy life with unbridled joy and passion…to just be a kid again.

Life seems so much easier, so much simpler through their lens. We have put ourselves in a weighty position with people’s livelihoods in our hands, but we have also put ourselves in a position to choose how we want to live.

To sit on the sidelines pining for simpler times…or at times, to just run with waves and dance with the crowd. 

Our life. Our choice. What do you choose?