We spend most of our childhood wanting to be older. Game changer: being an adult freaking sucks.

The responsibilities seem to be endless. With our careers ahead of us and student loans up to our eyeballs, we long for the days when our only worry was choosing whether to play tag or hopscotch before dinner.

I will never be a kid again. I will never be that innocent, little, carefree child who doesn’t have a worry in the world.

As you sit and rationalize, I realize that it isn’t written in a rulebook somewhere that all the childish games have to stop once you turn 18.

What makes it socially unacceptable to spend a Friday evening playing night games with your friends, or roasting marshmallows over the fireplace?

I have come to realize that the nostalgia for the childhood era doesn’t even have to exist. Sure, things will never be like that ever again. We will (hopefully) never live with our parents full time again. We will never again go through that incredibly awkward stage of life where our head is too big for our bodies.

However, most people look at these signs of growing up as a highlight.

With these new perks of adulthood, we need to remember that it doesn’t mean we have to put all our childish games aside. I want to be able to find that pure moment of laughter again. So I decided to release my inner child.

Last Thursday for me, was a byob (bring-your-own-blanket) kind of night. My friends gathered together to build a fort. Not wimpy, chair-and-blanket kind of fort. But a giant, spectacular blanket house, with separate rooms and millions of pillows.

To be completely honest, it made me feel a little silly, but the act itself was so enjoyably frustrating, that it made me feel like a kid again. And that is what I learned by doing what some may deem a “childish” activity.

You can have the pure, joyful feeling that chases all your stress away. It makes you feel like you are a kid with no responsibilities, which is something every stressed out college student needs to feel once in awhile.

Yes, we have responsibilities. I think that is what scares people the most about being grown up. Mommy or daddy can’t come by and magically fix all your problems. You have to look out for yourself by allowing vital time to take a break from all the stress.

Spend a few hours exploring the forest, going to a park or hide and go seek like you did when you were little.

Go out and partake in those things you thought you would never play again until you had a kid of your own. You are never too old to do anything.

Continue with the throwbacks, you need it.