Agents in the Zombie Nation

It’s Friday, and I have that “Friday feeling.” After the work week adrenaline rush, I’m spent.  Mentally and creatively fried actually.  I need to recharge my creative juices.  And what did I come home to?

_{Both of my boys were bouncing off the walls, full of energy.  Trying to calm the storm, I asked them about their day.  Luke (my 3 year old) shared with me that he and Olivia played “Agents” at school, and promptly began to demonstrate the main point of the game: press yourself against a wall, look around furtively, then run and hide around a corner.  Pretty fun at 3. But not nearly as fun as playing “Zombies” I soon learned, as my 5 year old lurched up and down the hall, moaning and dialing his “Zombie Mom and Dad” on an invisible phone.  Soon, Agent Zombie Mom was lurching up and down the hall as well, singing “Secret Agent Zombie” (I know you can hear the tune in your head) at the top of my lungs.}

_{How many times have you watched children play?  It’s a trip.  Toys are nice, but every parent knows that if you give a kid a cardboard box, it’s going to become a tent, then a train, then a cave, a boat or a turtle shell.  And when two children meet for the first time, after a few minutes they’re best buddies climbing a pirate ship or on a great adventure.  Creativity flows freely.  Their minds know no bounds.  There are no limits or obstacles to what they will create with their imagination.  Their dreams are big and loud.  It’s beautiful.  You dreamed loudly too, and so did I.}

_{And somewhere along the way, as you get older, the dreams get quieter.   They’re a little smaller.  You may lose that reckless abandon or your dreams are more cautious.  You may be afraid to try.  You tell someone that you can’t sing or don’t dance well.  You can’t draw.  You don’t like your hair.  You’re not creative.  Whatever your personal “can’t” is, it follows you.   It saps you.  It drains you, and you end up with that “Friday feeling”… looking for a recharge, but why?}

_{Someone along the way told you “you can’t.”  And it was probably someone older than you were – someone trapped in that Friday feeling – and it got passed on to you.  Now, you pass it on.  But I say “you CAN.”} 

_{You can sing.}

_{You can dance.}

_{You can draw, and you can dream.}

_{You are creative, if you give yourself permission to be you.  Give yourself permission to try, to make mistakes, to be embarrassed or scared or frustrated.  Move through that frustration and move on.  Even if the Friday feeling starts dragging you down, your mind is still powerful.  You are a creative being with endless energy.  I know you are.  After all, you were a kid once, and so was I.} 

_{When I was young, the floor was hot lava.  The couches were islands which we leapt across to be safe (sorry, Mom).  The bed was a raft that we were sailing down the Mississippi.  And tonight, I was an Agent in the Zombie Nation – so energized from letting the day go that I had to sit down and write this.}

_{You can.  You can.  You can.}