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Travis Tokarek

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Go do one thing you did as a kid that you stopped doing because you are an adult and there are now social expectations, then reflect on TED

I was walking home the other day after a day of light rain. The street was speckled with puddles of water and crushed autumn leaves. I was in my sandals and jeans walking only a couple of blocks to my house when I accidentally stepped in a puddle and completely SOAKED my jeans. At first I thought "shoot, what a bad thing to happen to me"..and then I realized it had no real physically negative impact on me at all, I was heading home anyway, I was going to go to bed after anyway, I needed to do laundry anyway. After that, I made an effort to hit every puddle on the way home. Words cannot describe how rejuvenated I felt. I feel like our social ties are more like chains, and the liberty and peace I felt while jumping through these puddles is something that everyone should try again. Go play in the mud, experience a swing set again, go sledding (not with or for your kids but for you). Tell TED how you experienced it!

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  • gale kooser 20+

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    Sep 29 2012: As a kid, I flew kites! Then as I got older, I put them aside. I am now 67 & returned to kite flying over a year ago. Got a 5' Delta & had to relearn kite flying. I love it! Friends & neighbors think I am nuts! Maybe so, but I am a happy nut. And yes! I ride my mountain bike through puddles & even walk through them.
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    Feyisayo Anjorin 50+

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    Sep 29 2012: As a kid, I lived in a residential Estate that is surrounded by hills and evergreen rainforest. Those days my town was still sparsely populated and once in a while monkies, hyenas and other animals from the wild could be seen roaming our streets.
    Like most of my friends my surroundings got me curious. So, during holidays we ( five friends) would fill our rucksacks with buscuits, bean-cakes, coca cola, and peanuts and set out into the forests and hills.
    We were so ignorant of the dangers of being eaten by wild animals, or being beaten by poisonous insects, or of falling down the slippery steep or gentle slopes of the hills.
    One day we were almost shot by a hunter; one day we dispersed after being sighted by a hyena.

    We always come back alive and well, and our parents (most civil servants and lecturers) would never know what we did while they were away.
    I still go hiking, but not like I use to do as a kid.
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    John Moonstroller 30+

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    Sep 28 2012: That must have been a very deep puddle :)

    I'm too old to do the things I did as a young boy. I'd kill myself. I was a very risky child.
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      Fritzie Reisner 100+

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      Sep 29 2012: John, I think Travis means specifically things you don't do now only because of social expectations.

      There are other things we don't do now because we want to be around for our children or grandchildren. These restrictions we place on ourselves have nothing to do with social expectations and therefore fall outside the bounds, I think, of Travis' question.
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        John Moonstroller 30+

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        Sep 29 2012: I understood her completely Fritzie... Thanks. I think there is some play room in the question.
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    Scott Armstrong 50+

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    Sep 28 2012: running around with no pants on?
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    Robert Winner 50+

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    Sep 28 2012: We are born peeing our pants and have no teeth ... we are pretty much the same when we die. What we do inbetween is what memories are made of.

    Have pleasant memories. Make a new one today.

    Sooner or later everything will be illegal, immoral, or fattening. So seize the day.

    All the best. Bob.
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    Fritzie Reisner 100+

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    Sep 28 2012: I am with Linda. In fact, I'd have to say that there were more boundaries around my behavior when I was a child at home under parental supervision than there were once I left.
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    pat gilbert 50+

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    Sep 28 2012: Wow this is great, I drove for a couple hours and then beat up my little brother.

    This is a seriously insouciant idea. I get what you are saying I will keep this idea in my head and when the opportunity presents itself...

    Insouciance is a very effective mentality for getting things done.
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    Linda Taylor 50+

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    Sep 28 2012: Wow this is really hard. I cannot think of anything I did as a kid that I stopped doing as an adult. Some of it I haven't done in a while but it doesn't mean I wouldn't do it. Like roller bladeing or rolling down a hill or sleding. Last time I went blading was about 4 years ago, rolling down a hill about 2 years and sleding about 4 years ago. But leaf stomping every fall, snowman building every winter. Cartoons every chance I get.
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