Growing up = growing down

Growing up sometimes equals growing down. You may have realised that your favourite hobby at the age of seven, is now bringing you enjoyment again whilst in your twenties. Or perhaps your childhood fashion preferences are making a comeback in your life. Let’s explore how the art of development and growing up, may result in a revert to childhood favouritisms and partialities.

The ages eleven to eighteen are often difficult for an individual to navigate under any circumstances. Beginning a new school, or starting physical development, places additional pressure on us to simply enjoy life. It is not surprising then, that at this age, we tend to lose sight of activities and hobbies that we have gained enjoyment from, whether this be reading or maybe puzzles, as they become tainted and tarnished as ‘socially unacceptable’ or no longer ‘cool’. At an impressionable age and desperate to fit in, it is common that we drift from our perhaps unpopular childhood favourites in order to avoid standing out, especially with the beginnings of the coercion of social media’s presence in our daily lives.

So why is it that these childhood favourites re-emerge at roughly the age of twenty? Perhaps as adult development slows, we begin to become less susceptible to impressionist behaviour and are more resistant to the urge to simply fit in, rather than create our own enjoyment through more uncommon outlets. The shackles of secondary school lift and we feel free to revert to hobbies that we acknowledge brought us joy and amusement in our earlier years. We are met with a sort of comfort and relief drawn from such familiar pastimes. Whilst social media remains a large presence, gone (we would hope) at this age, are the days of more adolescent online behaviour, replaced with a newfound maturity in the realms of social platforms. This too continues to remove barriers to childhood hobby engagement.

It is inevitable that on the journey through to young adulthood, adulthood and old age alike, we will continue to be freed from the grips of social constructs. You will, at some stage, consider if something is ‘cool’ for the last time in your life. From then on you will engage in all that you wish to without scrutiny. And so, it goes without saying, pick up that book or a puzzle that you have pictured throughout this read, for you are only delaying your own amusement, as growing up sometimes equals growing down.

• growing up
• social pressures
• teenage years