Adulting.

I will be the first to admit, it sucks to grow up. To be an adult. To have responsibilities. To have to listen to conversations that you have no interest in. Can someone please excuse me to my room, just this one time while Bob, the “bored” member, forecast our future? Can someone please put me on punishment from going to work, or even looking for work? I just want to exist in my room with my video games.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Constantly running from an existence that will never be familiar or comfortable. Am I supposed to be ok with spending my best years working a job, while spending my “golden years”, maybe traveling and seeing the world? I am not ok with that. I might have a heart attack before retirement, due to stress from this job. But, due to the current circumstances (i.e., bills, kids, life, and bills again), I may have to suffer this fate. I was born into a system that says, “If you are not ok with that, then something must be wrong with you.” So from the start assimilation is a must!

Let me be the first to tell you, there is nothing wrong with you. Life is only fun when we are engaging in the things that we want to do. Not the things out of obligation. Not the things that we feel we have to do and definitely not the things that we were born into. The things that allow us the most freedom. The things that we are good at. The things that we enjoy. Remember when as a child, you could not wait to go outside to see what they day brings. Everything that you did as a child, you did not have to think twice about. You just went outside and did the things that were fun. The only real decisions that you had to make were, who was going to be “It”, or if you were going to ride your bike to skateboard. There was some kind of outside activity that made you happy and the whole neighborhood was there to join in. Whether it was just meeting friends on the stairs or riding through the neighborhood, it was what you wanted to do.

Then lo' and behold, one day you wake up and you have a whole family. You have taken this adulting to a whole new level by becoming a wife or husband. You’ve landed the dream job, family is growing, life could not be better. Except for one thing, you forgot to have fun. You forgot what it was like to laugh and be spontaneous. You have put your skateboard up for a SUV. You only hang out with other parent’s and forgot what it was like to just be outside soaking in a day’s worth of sun doing absolutely nothing. There are moment’s at the stop light, when you drift off into a life that once was. You remember that fire and want to feel it again.

That fire is not lost. It is still there smoldering from all the exhaust from a life you don’t really want or one that you need to adjust. Stop and think about what true freedom feels like and go for that. We are made to learn from each other, create and grow. Not be stifled into a robotic way of living and being. As individuals we are too unique and dynamic to be put into a box. Make time for family, but more importantly make time for the things that truly make you happy. It could be a moment, it could be a thing you do, or something you see, or anything that leads you to your happiness. You deserve it.

LL Walton, Author

@lavidusw