I’ve been listening to interviews and podcasts featuring Harvard University theoretical physicist, Avi Loeb, where he discusses his upcoming book, “Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth.”

Now, I can write a bunch of words on the subjects he has touched, perhaps one day I will, and they will most definitely not even be close to as eloquent as Avi Loeb’s. However, I was very drawn to his views on life and the meaning of it, points he makes consistently throughout the interviews. He insists that we should strive to keep a child-like wonder on life, to rebel in curiosity, not caring for what others think or say. To act like a kid, to view the world through those eyes, and leave behind our most cynical tendencies. To pursue your passions, not for fame, likes, or money, but to do so because it fills you with joy, or a sense of purpose. To do anything for the sake of doing it, with no expectations.

We strive too quickly to “grow up”, we shed the child we once were, leaving it behind, as if it was poison, or shameful, a heavy sack to carry around forever. We start to cater to what others think of us, we mold ourselves into a world that quickly suffocates us, drowning away the essence of who we once were. We lose sight of what filled us, the simple or magnificent things we thought we could be or do, and we let this wicked society dictate how, when, and why to live.

Here, I look back at this picture, and realize the little things that filled me, and still do, even though I’ve thought, more than once, that I was a lost soul. I grasp the meaning of what I’m doing, of doing something for the sake of doing it. I’m certainly not as confident as I was, to so boldly claim that “I write good”, as a little, snotty, pedantic 7 year old kid, but hey, I guess I never knew that picture’s true purpose until now.

I will always be that nerdy, solitary kid, lost in books, and adventures that blow my mind. I’m not interested in intellect, nor boasting, or trying to prove if I’m smarter than the person next to me. I’m interested in satiating my unending curiosity, to seek wisdom, and quite frankly, to escape from the mundane and explore the pictures many authors paint with their words.

I hope this can serve as a way to make a few of you get in touch once again with that inner child, and look back at it as the person we were always meant to be.