Can Your Inner-Child Come Out and Play

A Playbook for Overworked, Overwhelmed, and Over-It Adults

What if joy isn’t a reward for surviving life—but the secret to actually living it?

If your daily routine feels like a never-ending loop of burnout, people-pleasing, and wondering if "fun" is a luxury you can no longer afford, you aren’t alone. You’re just disconnected.

In Can Your Inner Child Come Out and Play?, relationship advisor and emotional translator Charles Rivers offers a "playbook" for the grown-ups who look like they have it all together but secretly feel stuck, numb, or completely over it.

Why This Isn’t Your Typical Self-Help Book

Most advice tells you to work harder to find balance. This book tells you to stop working so hard and start playing. When you lock away your joy, it doesn’t stay neatly boxed up—it leaks into your work, your marriage, and your health. This book is your gentle roadmap back to your truest, weirdest, and most alive self.

Inside these pages, you’ll discover:

• The Productivity Trap: Why your worth isn’t tied to your to-do list.

• The Anatomy of Burnout: Why it’s not your fault, and how to actually reverse it.

• Permission to be "Unpolished": How to stop performing "fine" and start living real.

• The Healing Power of Fun: Practical ways to use play as a tool for emotional clarity.

Written with 30+ years of insight and a healthy dose of humor (and the occasional snack metaphor), Charles Rivers meets you exactly where you are—no judgment, just heart.

Your inner child hasn’t given up on you. They’re still there—with muddy shoes, a big imagination, and a handful of hope. It's time to open the door.