Being seen as childlike is largely looked down upon in today’s culture, but embracing aspects of childishness don’t have to be excluded from daily life. The word childish alone is associated with immaturity, ignorance, naivety and many other negative connotations. Even when children are in elementary and middle school, it is engraved into them by their surroundings to act more mature and grown-up.

Although there is an importance to display maturity in certain aspects of one’s personality, such as independence and emotional maturity, adult-like and childlike behavior do not have to be mutually exclusive.

As humans, it is crucial to give our brains a break. Even with responsibilities and busy days, people of any age should make it a priority to let their inner child out. Children may be crazy and annoying at points, but one thing that’s for sure is that they know how to have fun. Although children can have a much more self-centered view of the world, which has its drawbacks, everyone can learn from their ability to let go and do whatever they want.

Letting go of responsibility and ignoring what others think about oneself is a powerful skill, but it is a difficult one to learn. Negative information is proven to receive more focus from the brain than positive information, according to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Humans are naturally more receptive to criticism and therefore, it is always something that affects people’s actions, whether people realize it or not.

Adulthood should not have to be associated with seriousness and no fun. There is a part of everyone that wants to go back to when they were little, not because they particularly miss kindergarten, but because they miss the way they could act during that period in life. Having the playful mentality of a child can be immensely rejuvenating because constantly worrying about consequences is exhausting.

If someone wants to watch cartoons or run around outside for fun, they should be able to. In order to truly be carefree, humans need to be able to stop judging themselves and stop chasing the approval of others. A reminder that can be comforting in an odd way is that no one cares about yourself as much as you do; you are your own worst critic.

Having a present mindset, not worrying about consequences, and being spontaneous are not signs of weakness but signs of strength and they should be seen as such. Let creativity flow: go climb a tree or jump rope with friends, maybe play a board game way too competitively. Whatever it is, do it with enthusiasm and fully embrace the moment because there’s no need to be so serious.