I had a conversation with my lady the other day—well, I suppose it was more me rambling to her over the phone while I drove home from work, hands-free of course—about Adulthood. I’ve deduced that “growing up” is the great white lie of our generation. When we’re young, we are often told that we can’t do certain things (like stay up late for example) because be are “too young” and have to “grow up” first. Over time, the notion of “growing up” becomes the ultimate goal of our adolescence. We emulate our older siblings, attempt to sneak into PG-13 or R rated movies, and don’t take naps because naps are for babies. Oh how foolish we were…
I can remember certain milestones on my quest to get out of Neverland: my 1st “off campus” lunch, getting my driver’s license, going to college, and most recently getting my own place and a salaried job (THANK GOD). My mother might disagree with me, but by the standards of American society, I think it’s safe to say that I’m “grown.” Which brings me back to the original point of the rambling session I had with my lady: Growing up sucks.
I can remember that sitting in timeout for 5 minutes use to be a cruel and unusual punishment. 5 minutes in GUT (grown up time) converts to 1 minute. I can’t remember when it happened but the capacity of my current imagination is horrendously inferior to that of my childhood self. I use to be able to keep myself occupied with Legos in an unfinished basement for hours. Fast forward to today where I recently bought a user-input-based video game thinking, maybe this will help me improve my imagination. My goodness. I literally viewed the game as a self-help tool. For all intents and purposes, the experiences, knowledge and responsibilities of the adult life silently change you at your core until you wake up one day when you’re forty and realize that you’re friend count is down from 100+ to 2 and your primary vehicle is a minivan. Even in my own post-collegiate life I’ve begrudgingly noticed a sharp decline in my social interaction meter. So in order to keep the shores from receding, if you will, I’ve developed a strategy to cling to what remains of my inner child.
I’m in the process of creating a type of responsibility switch within myself that I have been practicing turning on and off. Every morning during the week when I have to go to work, I turn it on. Unless I have to go to the grocery store, check the mail, pay a bill, book a flight, or do any other “grown up” thing, that sucker is turned off. I even mix it up sometimes and wear Nintendo themed t-shirts to work. My cubicle has 3 Zelda posters and a giant lego Tie Interceptor in it (true story).
I shamelessly play and invite others over to play video games. I drink orange soda when I’m feeling fancy. I DVR and fall asleep to episodes of He-Man. I do my best to remember that being an adult doesn’t mean you have to do away with every child-like impulse, it just means you have to manage those impulses yourself now. Can you remember what you were like as a child? I feel really bad for people who don’t allow themselves to have fun in their adult life. Not the people who didn’t have a choice due to life circumstances but the people who knowingly and willingly allowed themselves to become jaded. I feel bad for the people who retreat into the lonely shell of seclusion. For the people who lose their sense of humor. For the people who are afraid. For the people who stop trying. The people who grow up.
Never leave Neverland.
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