Where did my inner child go?

Is it hidden behind a façade I have grown so accustomed to that it’s become a part of me I cannot part with?

Is it the façade of adulthood?

Or do we call it adulthood to mask our incapability and cowardice to be free again?

Tired. I am tired of being strong by society’s standards.

We, millennials, are carrying a burden greater than the one we ought to carry

because, let’s face it; life doesn’t come without a burden.

But is this burden large enough to bury you, little one, under the heavy rocks of worries you did not ask for?

I miss you.

I miss running at the beach and laughing out loud if my friends would fall on the sand or a wave would make us lose our balance.

I miss sitting on the swing and feeling the wind in my hair.

I miss seeing the world through the innocent lens without all the horrors that’s been causing Earth and generations to come.

I miss saying whatever I want.

I miss dancing without a care if people are looking.

I miss not regulating my words but having everything that comes out of my mouth be basked in kindness.

I miss opening my heart to others without the fear of being used.

I miss you.

Are you hiding because it is safer there in the depth of my subconscious?

Are you protecting yourself from hurt?

Or did my ego bury you because I have to measure my words?

Because I have to stay in the lead in this rat race?

Because the world might just eat me up if I show a sign of innocence or belief in the good part of it?

But let me tell you something, little one, you are stronger than my ego.

It is your purity that made me the person I am today.

I will not have life’s challenges turn me into a mold of traumas,

of uncertainties,

of overarching precaution,

of fear,

of inauthenticity.

I promise you that I will protect you at all costs,

but I will not bury you.

~