There is a child in all of us. It comes out every time we see a rainbow or every time we eat our favourite sweet. It comes whenever we meet a childhood buddy or when we read our favourite comic….but it never comes out in the workplace.
And why should it come out in the workplace? The workplace is a place for grownups, for adults who have responsibilities to shoulder, goals to achieve, deadlines to beat….and EMIs to pay. This workplace is a battleground, not a playground. The child within us can easily be hurt in this dangerous place.
So, we leave this child behind at home every day when we come to work. A secure, emotional creche’ where it has all its creature comforts but, like most children who are left in crèche’s, this child too cries to be let out, to go with us and be with us, to laugh and to cry. But no…..we reluctantly decide to leave the child back home. In its place, we choose to carry with us two other parts of our personalities…our grumpy and judgemental parent as well as our cold and calculating adult.
Both the Parent as well as the Adult have their own ways of looking at the world. The parent in us is often found passing judgement on everything it sees (“The traffic is so terrible!” or “ People are so unprofessional!”)
The adult, on the other hand, is busy evaluating the world around it in terms of problem statements (“How can I maximize my visibility without really putting in too much effort?”).
Day after day, as we keep listening to these monologues (and sometimes dialogues!) of our inner Parent and our inner Adult, we feel drained. By the end of the day, we just about manage to drag ourselves back home like a ship docking in a safe harbour after weathering stormy seas……..and there is the child to welcome us back home! Like a friendly pup he prances about, distracting us from all the machinations and frustrations of work, helping us forget momentarily the battlefield outside, leaving us wondering if the EMIs are really worth the battle.
Why don’t we resolve to take the child that exists in everyone of us, to our workplaces more often?
Happy Children’s Day!