How do significant life events or the passage of time influence your perspective on life?

For me, this is a hard question to answer. I've had what could be considered a few life altering events that have left some scars. Because of the situations that I've found myself in, mostly self-inflicted, I have developed a sort of "half glass empty" kind of perspective. I've become a pessimist.

Part of my new therapy routine is to work on my pessimism. I want to get back to the old me, when I was younger and was a lot more carefree and optimistic about the world. Part of that might just be getting older and "wiser" but I find myself thinking at times, "so what if I still feel like a kid in some ways?" Is that really such a bad thing? I mean, shouldn't we retain some of our childlike nature? If we lose that, do we become the cold-hearted adults we feared and loathed so much as children/teens?

There is a sense of wonderment child posses and a curiosity that I believe we lose as adults. Sure, we're curious about the news, or work, or maybe even some hobby that we enjoy. But when was the last time you built a volcano just to watch it explode with baking soda lava, just to have fun? When was the last time you just looked at the stars and wondered?

I've lived through so many things that I've gotten to a point that I think a lot of us have come to, which is that we are jaded to so much, we are blinded to the true atrocities that occur in the world. I hope with the passing of time not only my own wounds will heal, but yours will also.