The beauty of muchness

Happy, happy Friday. What a week it has been, full of calm moments and a couple incredibly exciting ones that I hope to be able to write about later, but as it stands, the timing simply isn't right! However there are some things that simply cannot be held under wraps forever…one of them being the most charming of mentors that I've gained while living in Panama City Beach: Ms. Eugenia - henceforth and forever more known as Mama E.

Last night over homemade tortilla soup garnished with Cooler Ranch Doritos and shredded cheese we talked about any and everything before I had a miniature revelation about my nature.

I have an adorable amount of muchness in my 5'7" frame. The term, muchness made popular by Alice in Wonderland has been defined officially by another blogger as this:

The innocence and imagination that appears in the hearts of young children. As the children grow older, they become more mature and gain responsibilities.

 

What exactly does it mean to lose your muchness? Is it simply growing older and losing who you were as a child? Is it coming to terms that reality isn't as great as we thought it would be when we originally said we couldn't wait to be grown-ups? I don't know what expectations I had as a child, I knew I wanted to be great, I knew I wanted to have a distinct effect on the world, but most importantly, I never wanted to lose my heart. I never wanted to lose my compassion for people, because even at a young age, I knew of the importance of giving to others and loving them with all you had.

As I've said multiple times (I'm pretty sure I mentioned it yesterday now that I think about it) my job has given me the opportunity of a lifetime: to spend my days meeting people, traveling, writing, and, most importantly, learning. For that reason - truthfully just that last one is enough - I have maintained my muchness, kept it at a distinct level of childlike wonder because there is always so much more to learn.

When Alice went back down the rabbit hole a second time, the Mad Hatter makes it very clear that she is not as she once was, she has changed and in that change she has lost the ability to fulfill her purpose. Every now and then, I wonder if I've dialed back my muchness, if I've lost important qualities that made me who I was a child. I believe that a big part of my muchness growing up was found in hope and being an adult has stripped away some of my naive beliefs about the world, the things I learn many times has caused me to lose faith in the goodness of people. Thankfully, over the past year, I've met a number of individuals that have shown me despite the uglies in the world, there is still many desirable things that breed positivity in this world.

Honestly, it's a scary thought, growing older and losing the very essence of who you were, or who you are. So, I've decided on my days off to explore my muchness…to go on adventures, to explore and be as childlike as possible because, if I were to lose all my muchness, I would lose a ginormous part of me…and it's a part that I don't think I ever want to be without!