At some point in the last five years, somebody once asked me, “Are you a little naive, Sam?” I have no recollection of the identity of this cheeky chap, but my answer was a definite no with a surprised laugh.
Yet I understand why they might have thought so. Here’s why.
I went from being a hardened litigation lawyer fighting my way through a boring shade of grey life to a vulnerability-is-my-armour, all-you-need-is-love type of girl while living life in colour and seeing possibility everywhere.
I believe in the power of love. That living a life of freedom is what really matters. That the naked truth will set you free but, first, it will definitely piss you off. That we all need to save the world. That life is supposed to be lived as an adventure. Most of all, I believe in kindness. Not forgetting grace. Is this naivety? No. It´s a return to innocence.
Naivety suggests a lack of experience or knowledge. A tendency to look at the world through rose-tinted glasses.
I live with my eyes wide open to the horrors of the world. Human beings do despicable things to each other every day, I know, having experienced too many horrors myself. I am awake to all of the horrors of the world, my friends, and being awake to the nature of this world means that I choose a different way.
I chose to return to innocence and no longer remain hard-hearted. I chose life, my friends. To reclaim the gifts of my inner child. Her gifts of trust, imagination, adventure, courage, curiosity and joy. I brought home the girl I’d lost along the way, and with her came a return to child-like innocence with the experience of a woman who has lived. A state of being that allows me to find the magical in the mundane while living in a logical world. To see and experience life through a completely different lens.
Am I naive? Definitely not. You can take the girl out of the men-in-black-style suits creating chaos in the courtroom but you could never take the lawyer out of the girl. I don’t believe that I’m a woman that you would call naive.
Which is why innocence is very different from naivety. You can be innocent and fully awake to the nature of this world. Trusting yet smart. It takes courage to be vulnerable instead of hard-hearted, and your imagination is not meant to be wasted on fretting over the past or worrying about the future. Joy isn’t just for the happy clappers, my friends. It’s a gift that’s waiting for you.
(c) Samantha Wilson 2019. All Rights Reserved
