Mandy’s Childhood - A self-composed poem

I am currently doing an internship cum summer camp called Positive Psychology Summer Camp organized by a team of vibrant and talented young psychology enthusiasts - Team Youniverse is a Social enterprise promoting Positive Mental Health. They are empowering youth development with positive psychology and spreading smiles during this gloomy pandemic situation.

The following poem is a part of an activity that we did on the second day of the internship. This was conducted by Ms. Manvi Sharma. Manvi is a Counselling Psychologist and a Certified Happiness Coach. With only a couple of hours of meeting her virtually, I fell in love with her positive attitude and jovial nature. She is genuinely one of the best happiness coaches I have ever met, her way of teaching was so good that it ignited the hidden poet in me. So when my creative juices were up and running, I thought, why not take this as a chance to do something productive and stress-relieving? The prompt given by her was, What were you like when you were a kid? What did you like? The following poem is my response to that prompt.

I really hope this can give you some nostalgic vibes and make you smile. I want everyone to enjoy it and also have some food for thought. Let us all remember and share how we enjoyed our childhood and what we can still do as adults. Don't let this pandemic take a toll on your mental health. Make sure you always have time for self-love and do what you like. Please let me know in the comments section your feedback, or you can also reach out to me using the contact section on the homepage.

Mandy’s Childhood

(Quatrains)

I was happy when I was a kid

I was a chatterbox who lost his lid,

I would run around the home wild

I guess that was the fun of being a child;

Every Christmas I used to wait for Santa’s sleigh

I wanted new toys like Leggos and Hotwheels to play,

I watched Tom and Jerry the whole day

All I did was eat, sleep and play;

I used to hop and dance when it rained

I enjoyed myself till my energy drained,

I loved eating chocolate icecreams

They were the elixir to my sweet-dreams;

I played football with my cousins and friends

Whenever I hurt someone I simply apologized to make amends,

My grandpa taught me how to pray

I used to wonder why his hair is so gray;

I used to wear matching clothes with my brother

He was my best friend, a companion like no other,

When we fought I asked my mom, can we get another

Sometime I can’t believe how did we come out of the same mother;

In pre-school, I missed my grandma and sometimes I used to cry

In my lunch, if she packed me my favourite french fry,

I forgot all my sorrows and smile like I was high

My grandma taught me that we should never lie;

I loved the colour pink and ignored the blue cliché

I was vibrant and always clothed in fine array,

He is so cute and smart, people used to say

There were no judgements, no one called me gay;

I wore a turban and kids used to take my case

Even when I felt bad I put on a smiling face,

I want to go back and become a kid again

When there was no pressure to act like a man;

I have a ton of assignments and work to do

Whenever I see a baby, I tell them how lucky are you,

I want you to be contented, your heart must not rue

I now leave you with your memories and thoughts, this is my cue.

Fin.

Here is a picture of 3 years old me and my loving Grandpa:

-

With Love

Mansanjam (21 years old)