This applies to many things, to be sure, but I've found that our youth (a group I'm rapidly outgrowing my membership of) have a very skewed perception of matters related to um, not being a youth. The dreaded G word.
Grownup.
Yuck, right? I know. Sigh. If I rewind 10 or 15 years, I thought 25 was old. Mature. Grownup. Probably a sweet age to be... and in many ways, I was right. I love being 25 and if I could, I might even try to stay 25 for 5 or 10 years because that's about how long it takes for you to be ready to be older than 25, from what I can tell.
I was sure that 25 meant owning a sweet car, my own home, and having a kick ass job making loads and loads of money.
Thanks, society.
At 18, I graduated high school and went to university with that in my head. I had no flipping idea what I wanted to be when I grew up, and sometimes I still don't. I went off to university, no more than a fetus, and I felt lost for six years until I decided to pursue my passion.
For the first time in my life, I leave work happy. I go to work happy. I am happy at work.
I love my job. My career. And I probably won't stay on this path forever.
If I had known this simple truth a long time ago, I could have avoided a lot of stress and anxiety and disappointment. As my friends' younger siblings, and our baby cousins and family friends' kids graduate high school, I hope they all realize this:
It's OK if you don't know what you want to be when you grow up. You'll figure it out in your own time.
That's life, society. It's growing up as you go along.
