{"id":2307,"date":"2020-05-22T10:42:52","date_gmt":"2020-05-22T10:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/?p=2307"},"modified":"2020-05-22T10:42:54","modified_gmt":"2020-05-22T10:42:54","slug":"nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Nonsense is a Good Thing and We Need More of It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cForgive me my nonsense, as I also forgive the nonsense of those that think they talk sense.\u201d<\/p>Robert Frost<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Responsibility. Goals. Progress. Knowledge. As we age we get entrenched in a sea of boringness and reason, constantly pursuing success and accumulating stuff we don\u2019t need. At some point we glance back at the person we once were and we barely recognize them. Where did that naive young adult go? What happened to that child living so free?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry writes in The LIttle Prince, \u201cI have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn\u2019t much improved my opinion of them.\u201d All children desperately want to grow up. In their minds grown-ups are free to do whatever they want, but children are restricted. What a mix-up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Children aren\u2019t burdened with the same useless thinking that adults are. They are the ones that have freedom in abundance. They embrace silliness and adore nonsense, because those things are fun. They\u2019re not overthinking the issue. If something is fun, they try to do it more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We adults lose sight of this and actually see silliness and nonsense as unproductive acts. When our stressful lives are running full steam ahead, we have no time for silliness and nonsense. Especially nonsense. It\u2019s as irritating as having a piece of sawdust in your eye. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we would benefit from a little nonsense here and there, wouldn\u2019t we? There\u2019s a part of us that wants nothing more than our inner child to come back for an occasional visit, no? If this is true, how do we make it happen? How can we get our fill of nonsense every once in a while?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take some cues from children. Children don\u2019t think much beyond the moment at hand. That\u2019s beautiful and we adults looking to introduce some nonsense into our lives should start there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kids also pay close attention to their surroundings. They see everything. Let\u2019s use a couch for an example. If a kid and an adult walk into a room with a plush couch, the adult will see the couch and automatically classify it as a piece of furniture for sitting. The adult might also take note of its placement, design, color, material, condition, etc., ultimately deciding whether or not to sit on it. A child, on the other hand, might simply judge whether or not the couch looks like something fun to play with. In most cases a couch looks like something fun to climb or bounce on. Remember, a couch is big compared to a child so it isn\u2019t just about a lack of conditioning. The child then runs up to the couch and jumps on it, causing the adult to panic and educate the child that a couch isn\u2019t the same as a jungle gym. Or is it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think we adults can find truth in Robert Frost\u2019s words if we take the time to think about them. What makes sense? Even the sense we think we have doesn\u2019t really make sense. A couch is whatever you choose to make it. Sure, it might be a bad idea to just jump on a couch that\u2019s in a public space or in someone else\u2019s house. But I bet it would be fun, and completely against what we consider sensible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Embracing nonsense is an exercise in thinking outside the box. Take a cup and see how many different sounds you can make with it. Dance without music. Go for a long walk back and forth in a single room. Go outside and yell at the top of your lungs. Make up a poem of complete gibberish. Make a helmet out of the next Amazon box you get in the mail, and then wear it for an hour. Take an old pair of shoes, paint them, and then nail them to a piece of wood. Why? For no good reason at all. That\u2019s the point. Nonsense. Practice it more and I bet you\u2019ll start to recognize that young, naive person trapped deep within you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Forget what you think you know about being an adult. That\u2019s boring. Rediscover your inner child and start living again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2308,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humor","is-cat-link-borders-light"],"yoast_head":"\nNonsense is a Good Thing and We Need More of It - Doug Burgett<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nonsense is a Good Thing and We Need More of It - Doug Burgett\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Forget what you think you know about being an adult. That\u2019s boring. Rediscover your inner child and start living again.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doug Burgett\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-22T10:42:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-05-22T10:42:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Nonsense_.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Doug\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Doug\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Doug\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b004cb1a95c1b8aae118d3bcf5010224\"},\"headline\":\"Nonsense is a Good Thing and We Need More of It\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-22T10:42:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-22T10:42:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/\"},\"wordCount\":713,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Nonsense_.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Humor\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/\",\"name\":\"Nonsense is a Good Thing and We Need More of It - Doug Burgett\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Nonsense_.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-22T10:42:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-05-22T10:42:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b004cb1a95c1b8aae118d3bcf5010224\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Nonsense_.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Nonsense_.jpg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":2048,\"caption\":\"illustration by Doug Burgett titled The Couch\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Nonsense is a Good Thing and We Need More of It\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Doug Burgett\",\"description\":\"Create, Grow, Laugh, and Love\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b004cb1a95c1b8aae118d3bcf5010224\",\"name\":\"Doug\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b9359a9a906522aba6c8b85064372eb0d48c567c5550aa1374f632c4b6fade10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b9359a9a906522aba6c8b85064372eb0d48c567c5550aa1374f632c4b6fade10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Doug\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/author\/dburgett\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Nonsense is a Good Thing and We Need More of It - Doug Burgett","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Nonsense is a Good Thing and We Need More of It - Doug Burgett","og_description":"Forget what you think you know about being an adult. That\u2019s boring. Rediscover your inner child and start living again.","og_url":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/","og_site_name":"Doug Burgett","article_published_time":"2020-05-22T10:42:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-05-22T10:42:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":2048,"url":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Nonsense_.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Doug","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Doug","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/"},"author":{"name":"Doug","@id":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b004cb1a95c1b8aae118d3bcf5010224"},"headline":"Nonsense is a Good Thing and We Need More of It","datePublished":"2020-05-22T10:42:52+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-22T10:42:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/"},"wordCount":713,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Nonsense_.jpg","articleSection":["Humor"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/","url":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/","name":"Nonsense is a Good Thing and We Need More of It - Doug Burgett","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Nonsense_.jpg","datePublished":"2020-05-22T10:42:52+00:00","dateModified":"2020-05-22T10:42:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b004cb1a95c1b8aae118d3bcf5010224"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Nonsense_.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Nonsense_.jpg","width":2048,"height":2048,"caption":"illustration by Doug Burgett titled The Couch"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/nonsense-is-a-good-thing-and-we-need-more-of-it\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Nonsense is a Good Thing and We Need More of It"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/","name":"Doug Burgett","description":"Create, Grow, Laugh, and Love","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b004cb1a95c1b8aae118d3bcf5010224","name":"Doug","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b9359a9a906522aba6c8b85064372eb0d48c567c5550aa1374f632c4b6fade10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b9359a9a906522aba6c8b85064372eb0d48c567c5550aa1374f632c4b6fade10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Doug"},"url":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/author\/dburgett\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Nonsense_.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2307"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2309,"href":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2307\/revisions\/2309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dougburgett.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}