To
all the folks in their late teens and early-mid twenties, I want to
issue some short-aged advice, for what it's worth, and I wish I had
heard it earlier. As an adult, which with any luck and prayer, you
will soon be, you will learn so many hard lessons that no one can
really “tell” you. So I guess this is all really pointless, but
it will make me feel better.
Point
in short: You don't have all the time in the world. So many stories
and articles are telling young men and women to take their time,
don't rush into life, don't hurry and grow up, etc. There is an ounce
of truth to that, for me at least. It's nice to reminisce of the old
days when things were easy and responsibilities were limited, but
there are so many other things about adult life than just “rough
times” and responsibilities. With great responsibilities comes
great rewards. Everyone knows that the highest up, guy that has
(theoretically) worked hard and bears the greatest weight of a
company also generally has the highest wages.
As
an adult, our lives shouldn't revolve around money and becoming the
highest paid player, but like wages, we find many other great rewards
in great accomplishments. People who do great work in charity see the
lives of so many change and have a positive influence on them. With
great responsibilities comes great reward. Teachers, while often
stressed and overwhelmed, change the world 25-30 students at a time,
but often make a life-changing impact on several. With great
responsibilities comes great rewards. I say this to encourage people.
Don't
be scared of growing up. Don't be scared of responsibilities. Growing
up is hard sometimes. Sometimes it is scary. Adult life isn't always
peachy and easy-street. That doesn't mean there's nothing wonderful
about it. Like everything else, the bad always seems to over-shadow
the good in the world. An ounce of bad seems to make shadows that
weigh a ton. So remember that when you see adults complaining about
how they'd love to go back to childhood. We rarely dwell on the good,
although we should focus a majority of our attention on the good.
Life
is good and there are so many things that are wonderful in adult
life. We get to understand and cherish every moment. We get to see
life through knowledge and understanding of years of growth. We get
to keep the knowledge that we've gained through these times. But we
don't have forever, not here anyways.
When
you get to a point in your life, you will be “loving life” and
not wanting to push forward. Finding yourself is important, but it's
also important to find your life and your direction. Dawdling in
those “fun” times discourages growth and change. Trust me, you
will look back and wish you hadn't “wasted” that time. When you
hit 30, you may wish your body hadn't become so used to birth control
to prevent unwanted pregnancy but allow for frivolous sexual
activity. You may wish this because now your body won't regulate back
to being fertile and allowing you to create a family. You may wish
that you hadn't wasted time in limited challenging jobs that didn't
pay towards your goal and purpose in life. You, at some point, will
most likely wish you hadn't “wasted” time back then.
When
your family's health starts to fail, you may wish you hadn't spent so
long in the “discover yourself” stage of life. So I am your
future you, telling the you now that you shouldn't rush into
something that hasn't been intended, but be mindful of the future. Be
mindful that there is more to life than boys and fun.
Again,
this is mostly wasted 'breath' (or rather typing) because those
experiences are what will make you who you will become. Without those
dawdle experiences, you may not become who you are supposed to, but I
still wish I had heard this. At the time, I was hearing all about not
hurrying to grow up. I wish I had hurried a little. I wish I had
looked up and saw that I had more than just the present, I had a
future that was coming at me.
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