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the attempted pronunciation of a foreign word
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This is a place where you can learn with me how to do the little things adults do.  An instructional account of the things they don't teach you in school but are vital in the beginnings as a new adult in a new environment.


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Learning How To Close The Door
May 9, 2018
Learning How To Close The Door
May 9, 2018
May 9, 2018
Feb 20, 2018
Learning How To Say I Love You
Feb 20, 2018
Feb 20, 2018
Learning How To Live Without Pliés and Tendus
Nov 17, 2017
Learning How To Live Without Pliés and Tendus
Nov 17, 2017
Nov 17, 2017
Learning How to Practice
Sep 3, 2017
Learning How to Practice
Sep 3, 2017
Sep 3, 2017
Learning How to Make New of the Old
Jul 7, 2017
Learning How to Make New of the Old
Jul 7, 2017
Jul 7, 2017
Learning How to Cure Nostalgia
Apr 29, 2017
Learning How to Cure Nostalgia
Apr 29, 2017
Apr 29, 2017
Learning How To Grow Out Of Your Childhood Bedroom
Apr 6, 2017
Learning How To Grow Out Of Your Childhood Bedroom
Apr 6, 2017
Apr 6, 2017
Learning How To Slow Down
Mar 11, 2017
Learning How To Slow Down
Mar 11, 2017
Mar 11, 2017
Learning How To Be Green
Feb 25, 2017
Learning How To Be Green
Feb 25, 2017
Feb 25, 2017
Learning How To Love Your Body
Feb 17, 2017
Learning How To Love Your Body
Feb 17, 2017
Feb 17, 2017
Learning How To's RSS
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Learning How To Grow Out Of Your Childhood Bedroom

April 6, 2017

I came home a few days ago, and when I say home, I mean that I took a plane, a sweater-stuffed suitcase, and a very exhausted Emily all the way back to Canada. Upon arriving back at my parents' house, I knew that things around the house would be different because every time that I return for a visit, they are. My mom is constantly coming up with new ideas around the home, which typically I don't mind so much.

But this time, my mom rearranged my bedroom.

 

I'm a stupidly sentimental person, so you can imagine the resentment and shock that overcame me. As I unpacked my suitcase, my mom, aware of my disapproval of her changes, asked what changes I didn't like. For that moment, I was no longer the mature, grown adult I've been trying so hard to become. I was a little girl again, using a pair of socks from the suitcase to wipe away a single tear when Mom wasn't looking.  

Why should this matter so much? I use this bedroom maybe twice a year.  I leave it behind, expecting it to remain just as I left it. All it is to me is a memory of what it always was and what it should always be. 


 

 

It's the bedroom I more or less grew up in. It's the bedroom that I've kept all my secrets in.  The colour and general atmosphere of the room is romantic. The bed is the comfiest place I have ever slept. The knick knacks lining the shelves and the memorabilia hung on the walls makes no sense but brings me small comfort. I leave behind unwanted things, but always know where to find them when I want to see them again.  

It's also my memory of home. It's my attachment to my family and to my childhood and how things used to be. It makes me sad for this bedroom to be any different from how I remember it, because that would be like saying goodbye to a big part of who I once was.  Perhaps, childhood is something we cling onto, desperately, as we grow older, but the older we get, the more it fades away.

 


The period of one's life that is their childhood is sacred.  A time of juvenile innocence where daily problems were minuscule in contrast to those of the adult world. We look back to it as, without sounding too much of a cliché, a "simpler time".  As grown-ups, we feel the burdens of an education, a job, a partner, a family, taxes, so we can't help but look to the past when it all seemed so easy.  

The childhood bedroom is an emblem for this sort of nostalgia. The bedroom is an environment that consumes a lot of our time. From a child's perspective, it can be a safe haven. Where you go to have a good cry. It's where you go for timeout. It's the place to play with toys and make a big mess and then have to spend time cleaning up because it's what your parents tell you to do. It's where you spend the beginning and the end of each day. It's where you create all of your dreams.

When people consider their own bedrooms from their youth, it's often the sort of thinking that puts a smile on their face. We think back to the happy memories and of the small, obscure details that are so personally special to us.

So when I tell my mom that I miss my mirror and my antique oil lamp and maybe a few dirty teddy bears, it's not because they are things I actually like to incorporate to my interior decor. It's because they're memories that I don't want to forget, but instead, stay there forever.

But now's the time that I need to tell myself to grow a pair. I'm not a little girl anymore and I can't be one ever again.  But that's life.

On a lighter note, it's nice to think that these memories were integral in shaping who we've become. And with the fondness of thinking back, it's an encouragement to help us move forward.  

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In lifestyle Tags learninghowto, learning, adult, adultlife, childhood, nostalgia, childhoodbedroom, memories, childhoodmemories, growingup, childhoodsymbols, past
← Learning How to Cure Nostalgia Learning How To Slow Down →
  • May 2018
    • May 9, 2018 Learning How To Close The Door
  • February 2018
    • Feb 20, 2018 Learning How To Say I Love You
  • November 2017
    • Nov 17, 2017 Learning How To Live Without Pliés and Tendus
  • September 2017
    • Sep 3, 2017 Learning How to Practice
  • July 2017
    • Jul 7, 2017 Learning How to Make New of the Old
  • April 2017
    • Apr 29, 2017 Learning How to Cure Nostalgia
    • Apr 6, 2017 Learning How To Grow Out Of Your Childhood Bedroom
  • March 2017
    • Mar 11, 2017 Learning How To Slow Down
  • February 2017
    • Feb 25, 2017 Learning How To Be Green
    • Feb 17, 2017 Learning How To Love Your Body
    • Feb 9, 2017 Learning How To Do Fashion Week
  • January 2017
    • Jan 14, 2017 Learning How To Do The Gym Thing
  • December 2016
    • Dec 31, 2016 Learning How To Kiss Goodbye
    • Dec 24, 2016 Learning How To Do Christmas
    • Dec 15, 2016 Learning How To Cook Pasta
  • November 2016
    • Nov 30, 2016 Learning How To Steal A Cat
    • Nov 23, 2016 Learning How To Wake Up in the Morning
    • Nov 17, 2016 Learning How To Drink Wine
    • Nov 13, 2016 Learning How To Live Without a Bath Tub

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