We've been ridding this road for a mighty long time, paying no mind to the signs

People are so fatalistic about growing up. Why is it that youth is viewed through such rose-colored lenses? It's got it's pitfalls too. Life doesn't end when you take on a job and stop wearing bell bottoms. Or even when you get a few wrinkles.

I'm not saying we should have a "I don't wanna grow up" mentality, those adults who still think they're seventeen can be pretty annoying and obnoxious. I just tend to live with this mortal fear of becoming the worn out, stressed out, dreamed-out adult that is so typical in our society.

It is a cultural thing, I think. It seems like money, rather than the difference you make in the world, is the definition of success. Identity is bound in what you do rather than who you are. Marriage is the conclusion to a romance rather than the beginning of one. Kids are something to be managed and dealt with rather than little individuals to be equipped for taking on the world.

That, and there's the general expectation that you should settle down when you get older. Hey, Noah was building the ark at 100. Even given the proportional differences in life span back then, that's a long time to wait before the significant part of your life begins. Why are we all expected to turn out the same, and to live these sterotypical lives?

Imagine instead that we continued to feel, to learn, to expreience everything to it's fullest, till the day we die? Can't we change this mindset? I refuse to beleive that adult life has to be monotonous or miserable. There will be new beginnings, new dreams, and new thrills all the way through life. So many people just let themselves go. It doesn't have to be that way, I'm determined.

There's nothing inevitable about your future, if you keep on dreaming and pledge to be different.

And there's my lecture to myself for the day. :-)