Growing up is scary... like terrifyingly scary. Growing up means moving into a future that is huge and full of the unknown. It means getting out of Neverland and truly acknowledging the passage of time. If life has taught me one thing, it is that you can never truly predict the path you will go down and what obstacles and triumphs you will meet along the way.
I wouldn't call myself a scaredy cat but my one big fear in life (besides out-of-control fires, railings and the number of calories in one tiny red velvet cheesecake cupcake) is growing up... getting older... maturing...being expected to act age-appropriately. This fear is the reason for my extended stay in post-secondary and post-graduate education, for moving back in with my parents and staying longer than I should have.
It is said that my generation of Millenials (previously known as Gen Y) is a generation in stasis, frozen by a downturn in the economy, lack of opportunity or the pervasive idea that we expect more than we should. The post-secondary degrees we were told were necessary for a career have now become the bare minimum of training we need... we're told to go back to school but the first degree we got cost so much money that we can't afford it.
So can this fear of growing up be placed squarely on my shoulders or can I shift the blame to society? I'd like to say: both. If I don't take the chances, make the mistakes, and put myself out there, how can I expect the world to accept me or show me more opportunity?
Bottom line: it's time to go. Time to open myself up to the possibility of the unknown, to accept that it is okay to not know what comes next, to accept that I may fail.
I'm ready. I've already made a huge step in that a few months ago, I moved out of my parents' house in the suburbs and got a place with a friend in the city. I pay my own bills, I control whether or not I have clean clothes or healthy food to eat. It feels pretty good and was less scary than I made it out to be.
Clinging to the past is never healthy - it is a time that you are meant
to reflect back on and learn from. Not one that you need to re-live on a
daily basis. This blog is not meant to be a diatribe on the proper way to live your life... who even knows what that is? This is merely a platform where I can share the triumphs and less-than-triumphs my newly-independent self will find along the way. I'd love if you came along for the ride.
Next step: getting out of administrative drudgery and get back into the career that I want. LinkedIn, here I come!
Henry Kissinger once said that “a diamond is a chunk of coal that merely did well under pressure.” Watch out, because Imma be that lump of coal.
