innocence.<\/em><\/p>\nPeople most often associate innocence with childhood.\u00a0 When you’re young and everything about the world still seems new and exciting.\u00a0 But although this is true, the innocence that I’m referring to is when you’re life is going along great and you really don’t have any major problems to worry about… whether you’re aware of it or not.<\/p>\n
When I look back through photos from just ten years ago, I see someone who still had both their parents, a good job, pretty decent health, good friends and a nice place to live.\u00a0 Of course life wasn’t perfect, and I still had problems like credit card bills and the dramas of dating.\u00a0 But when I look back now, I can see a sense of innocence that I didn’t even know was there at the time.<\/p>\n
After you go through something significant and life-changing like a destructive\/abusive relationship, the end of a friendship, health issues or the loss of a loved one, your life is forever changed.\u00a0 When multiple events like this happen at one time, it changes who you are at your core.\u00a0 It is pretty much impossible to go back to the person you were before because the world as you know it has changed.<\/p>\n
But that’s not to say that it’s a bad thing.\u00a0 Having gone through such life-altering events myself, I feel that I am truly stronger now because of them.\u00a0 I also have a stronger relationship with God and a better (I think) perspective on life and what is really important.<\/p>\n
Sure, there are still times when I look back at my life before those things happened and realize that I didn’t know how good I had it “back then.”<\/p>\n
See\u00a0that’s the thing about innocence… you don’t know it when you have it.\u00a0 Most of us are usually too caught up in our day to day lives to really realize how good things are… until they aren’t.<\/p>\n
But\u00a0even though those days may be gone, I still can be present and be grateful for the good times now.\u00a0 And if anything, be more appreciative for them now because I am more aware of the preciousness of every moment.<\/p>\n
So\u00a0for those of you that are blessed to still be\u00a0in the midst of your “innocence”…<\/p>\n
Relish in it.
\nEnjoy every<\/em> day.
\nTell those around you that you love them.
\nAnd be grateful for your blessings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When I go back and look at photos from certain periods of my life, I can see something in them\u00a0that’s no longer present in my life now.\u00a0 No… it’s not an old haircut or an out-of-date\u00a0outfit that I’m glad is long gone. It’s innocence. People most often associate innocence with childhood.\u00a0 When you’re young and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":589,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[314,103,125,33,307,313,137,260,312,126,141,149,22,311,124,310,308,309,315],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aging","tag-blessings","tag-encouragement","tag-god","tag-gratitude","tag-growing","tag-growth","tag-innocence","tag-innocent","tag-inspiration","tag-life","tag-life-lessons","tag-love","tag-mindfulness","tag-positive-thinking","tag-present","tag-thankful","tag-thankfulness","tag-tragedy"],"yoast_head":"\n
Return to Innocence - Simply Fabulous<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Return to Innocence - Simply Fabulous\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When I go back and look at photos from certain periods of my life, I can see something in them\u00a0that’s no longer present in my life now.\u00a0 No… it’s not an old haircut or an out-of-date\u00a0outfit that I’m glad is long gone. It’s innocence. People most often associate innocence with childhood.\u00a0 When you’re young and…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/2015\/08\/return-to-innocence.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Simply Fabulous\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-04T15:20:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jenn Baxter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Return to Innocence - Simply Fabulous","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Return to Innocence - Simply Fabulous","og_description":"When I go back and look at photos from certain periods of my life, I can see something in them\u00a0that’s no longer present in my life now.\u00a0 No… it’s not an old haircut or an out-of-date\u00a0outfit that I’m glad is long gone. It’s innocence. People most often associate innocence with childhood.\u00a0 When you’re young and…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/2015\/08\/return-to-innocence.html","og_site_name":"Simply Fabulous","article_published_time":"2015-08-04T15:20:15+00:00","author":"Jenn Baxter","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/2015\/08\/return-to-innocence.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/2015\/08\/return-to-innocence.html","name":"Return to Innocence - Simply Fabulous","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-08-04T15:20:15+00:00","dateModified":"2015-08-04T15:20:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/#\/schema\/person\/2203de766b706a2fbb1706c052ee1925"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/2015\/08\/return-to-innocence.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/2015\/08\/return-to-innocence.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/2015\/08\/return-to-innocence.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Return to Innocence"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/","name":"Simply Fabulous","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Jennifer Baxter","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/#\/schema\/person\/2203de766b706a2fbb1706c052ee1925","name":"Jenn Baxter","description":"Jenn Baxter is an accomplished writer in Charlotte, NC, who has been published in The Charlotte Observer, Fort Mill Times, Charlotte Five, SOCIETY Charlotte Magazine and Lake Norman Magazine, as well as featured as a columnist on Beliefnet.com. Her freelance clients span across the nation, as well as Australia and the UK, in the fashion & beauty, health & wellness, travel and life coaching industries.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/author\/jbaxter"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/589"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions\/140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplyfabulous\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}