The Child I Left Behind

We’re all out here grinding, aren’t we? Doing everything we’re supposed to do. Work, studies, showing up for family, being there for friends when they need us. Ticking all the boxes that society laid out for us.

But somewhere in this endless cycle of obligations and expectations, I lost myself. We all did, I think.

And when you’re alone, really alone, it hits different. The silence gets loud, you know? It’s just you and your thoughts, and honestly, that’s the scariest place to be sometimes.

I can’t remember the last time I did something just because it made me happy. Not productive, not networking, not “building my future” just… fun. Pure, stupid, meaningless fun.

“We never let the inner child out.”

That kid who used to get lost in video games for hours, who laughed at the dumbest jokes, who dreamed without calculating the ROI of those dreams, where did he go? When did I lock him away?

Sometimes I wonder if this is what “growing up” was supposed to feel like. This hollow. This tired. This alone, even in a room full of people.

And Maybe it’s not too late to let him out.

“On forgetting who we were while becoming who we’re supposed to be.”