I never tried to hide the obvious fact that I’m a sucker for anything that looks cute. You can literally put a pair of 
googly eyes on a poop and top it with a little leaf, and I will most likely buy it.
This is how it always was.
I never liked Barbie or those creepy infant-like toys (looking at you, Baby Born). I had fluffy teddy bears all over my room, and my favorite toy was a plush, orange frog with a very original name ‘Bubble’. When you’re a kid that’s completely fine and socially acceptable. This is what is expected from a 10 year old girl.
But as time passed by, I seemed not to grow up when it comes to so called cute-stuff. I liked everything as any other teenager I knew, but on the top of that I always melted seeing something colorful and fluffy. At that time, it could be a bit awkward, especially that Poland isn’t consider a country opened for cuteness. We are getting modernize, our cafes are as trendy as the ones in the world’s biggest cities. However, there’s no cuteness – at least not in the places I hang out.
And I don’t mean Venus-Angelic type of cuteness, even for me that’s bit too much and I wouldn’t feel 
comfortable, but as long as she’s happy that way – why would I care? I won’t wear lolita type of clothes. To be honest my closet looks more like ‘Fifty shades of grey’. Not in a perverted way, of course. Just very monochromatic.
So I thought, that there is some balance between my inside and outside cuteness. My outside cuteness nearly doesn’t exist. I may have a cute tote bag or two, but inside I’m all rainbows, unicorns and sunshine. I will genuinely feel sad for a cartoon character.
Laugh at me, but this is true story – we went to Smyths, which is like Irish Toys R Us. They had Tsum Tsum on sale. If you don’t know what Tsum Tsum is, that’s a series of cute, collectible toys that you can stack onto each other. They are so small and flat that they get few extra points on the cuteness scale.
So I wanted to buy ONE. I stood there, trying to decide which one to take (like any other responsible 25 year old would do) and at the end I didn’t take any because I didn’t 
want the others to feel bad.
You realize how stupid this is? I’m fully aware these are just plush toys and have no feelings, but I just felt like a douche bag.
In May I will be 26. I’m married for nearly 5 years, I’m sharing two mortgages for two flats on two continents. I have very adult-ish responsibilities. I work as procurement specialist, which is actually a pretty difficult job. Yet, I’m still a sucker for all the cute stuff.
It may not be a problem in Asia. I know girls over 30, nearly 40 and they can go purchase whole series of Tsum Tsum, eat from a Gudetama bowl, have a Disney-themed bag and visit Japanese-themed cafes every weekend and no one will bat. Even if they have kids, that still doesn’t change anything – no one will say ‘You’re an adult now, you have responsibilities, you need to grow up. These stuff are for kids’.
Cuteness and cute stuff are perfectly acceptable.
Meanwhile, 8 hours earlier there’s a whole different world. Very sad world, to me – personally.
It makes me feel like an outcast. I heard people telling me that my cubical looks like a 12 year old girl’s room.
Even my own dad often reminds me ‘You should be more serious’.
How about everyone will just mind their own business? Why I can’t just like the things I like? I don’t harm anyone, I do my job the best I can, I don’t force anyone to like the same things I do. I’m paying for all the stuff from my own pocket.
I think cute stuff are like Disney movies – you’re never too old to enjoy them. If you don’t – that’s fine, but there should be no social age limit.
After long day in the office, I like to look at the cute Gudetama calendar and look forward to my holidays.
An awful job written on a cute piece of paper seems to be little less tiring. Or that little bells on my phone charm beaten by Biscuit the cat will make me smile when I have a rough day. Or that little cat-shaped soy sauce bottle will make the dinner more pleasant to my eye?
In this age the old ‘nerds’ are now accepted with their comic books, video games, action figures, so why can’t people stop judging the ones who are into cute stuff?
I guess I need to wait for Marvel to buy San-X and make Rilakkuma some kind of super hero. Shooting love and cookies out of its eyes and fighting rage filled Red Panda – Aggretsuko.
And to be fair, I bet some of you can relate to Aggretsuko.
I’m worried that with days passing by I will hear that more and more. I don’t want to give up or hide a part of me, just because ‘at this age it’s not appropriate’.
Luckily, that’s one of the things that Sing loves about me – at least one person on my side!
What is your opinion on this topic? When do YOU think people should stop openly get excited about ‘kawaii’ things? Do you like them, as well?
“I will genuinely feel sad for a cartoon character.” YES! That is me all the time too! And I am no longer a kid anymore, but more like an old adult working in a fancy corporate job! Like you, in the shop I will one to buy one stuffed toy. Most of the time I will end up buying two so the toys can keep each other company outside of the shop :”D Keep dressing your work cubicle how you want to dress it, and dress how you want to wear and be cute if you want to be cute. I get a lot of people telling me to act my age but over time I learnt not to care – after all, they will remember me for my cuteness and ha, they noticed me :”D
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At least you have a baby face to match it! That’s a compliment – hope you don’t get it the wrong way! 💕😁
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My ‘baby face’ is the result of makeup on the face. Haha, I like your cute toys that I want to grab and hug them 😀
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My take on this is simple – as long as you are harming no-one, do whatever you want.
There are loads of Smyth’s in the UK though, it’s not exclusively Irish
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Exactly, thank you! 👍🏻 as for Smyths – I think it’s Irish chain but I didn’t know they also service UK!
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You do what makes you happy. Enjoy your cute stuff. I think having cute desk companions is way less disturbing than the botoxxed women in their fifties trying to hang onto their youth by shopping at Forever 21.
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Hahaha, I literally LOLd at work 😀
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Hey! Forever 21 has some good stuff, man. 😛
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You still young! Enjoy your cute stuff. 😀 I am a 66 years old guy and like cutes stuff. 🙂
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Do what makes you happy! As long as you’re not harming anyone else I see no problem with it! 🙂
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My aunt who is pretty much “grandma age” has a collection of knock-off Pooh bears and other stuffed animals that would put most children to shame. Is it weird? Yeah, a little. But it’s harmless and makes her happy. Besides Sanrio shit is pretty damn awesome.You got good taste. 😛
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People are so judgmental! Why does it matter if you like toys or not? I don’t care much about cute things myself but I think it’s perfectly fine if adults like them. Better than, I don’t know, collecting weapons or something xD
It is true that Asia embraces cute things much more than Europe! Stationery in Europe is so boring…
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nothing wrong with a bit of cute. 🙂
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What about sports? Billions of men have lives that revolve around what are, in reality, children’s games: baseball, basketball, football (both kinds), etc.
Not being a sports fan, I’ve always found this pretty silly.
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good point!
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I’m the same. It’s the eyes! The way they look at you with a take me with you look. I feel bad too if I leave them behind. I’m getting better at not buying so much cute stuff. I try not to touch it and find that helps. Don’t worry what others think, do what makes you happy ✨😃
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I agree with you 100%
I love cute stuff as well. The word “cute” is among my most used words in my vocabulary :’D
People here in Germany react the same way as people in Poland. Of course, there are people among my friends who love cute stuff as well, but the general people don’t understand me. Especially my family or co-workers.
I still would never change. Cute things make everything look more enjoyable as you say.
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I like your Gudetama calendar!
Btw, I’ve nominated you for a WordPress “award”! Feel free to participate =] You can read more about it here: http://livejennormously.com/liebster-award/
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My thoughts would be, who cares what other people think? As long as it makes you happy 😊 I run around catching Pokemon at lunchtime and couldn’t care less if people think I’m weird 😁
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Just f**king move to HK already! Save yourself the low self esteem and torture >.< …
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I’m going to screenshot it and send to Sing – finally someone else than me says it 😂
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Do not make general assumption that middle aged women in Hong Kong don’t get judged for acting cute. Actually, working space is the property of the company. You are paid to work there and not to display your “tasteful” collections. You colleagues, parents or whomever not in agreement with you only have good intentions as a warning so that you don’t stick out like a sore thumb (too outstanding from the rest of the crowd). In my opinion, it is not a matter of being too old to be cute but rather your parents worry that you cannot accept the harsh reality of aging when that time arrives. Also, Rilakkuma and etc are Japanese brands while Tsum Tsum belongs to Disney (US brand). Since you are in Ireland, people get offended that you are promoting these foreign brands instead of leprechaun, gnomes or four-leaf clover. Do Rilakkuma or Tsum Tsum even pay you for free advertisements?
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I swear to you I’ve never seen a cute leprechaun – only the drunk ones with their butts out 😂 But I have few cute four leaf clovers on my keychain!
Being paid for rilakkuma or TT would be like a dream come true 😂
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I’m not into much cute decorations at work in my cubicle. In fact, I have no personal photos, not even my screen saver. I’ve been like this for several employers in past few …decades.
I talk about in partner, family in general but no need to show photos.
In North America if you have aspiratioins to move into management roles, then maybe 1 cute thing in the office. That’s all. Seriously, people will wonder when you get older. It’s a different workplace culture. At home, you do anything you want.
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