As part of the narsasistic generation responsible for coining phrases such as selfie, adulting and side-hustle, I really shouldn’t be too surprised and what I’m about to write about. I’m just hoping to create a spark even if it’s just with one person about life.
I’m just as guilty at using terms like “Side Hustle” but I’m learning that I’m not proud of it. I’m not the first person on this planet to have more than one job so why did that term need branding? As Hank Moody would said we’re “Slaughtering the English language”. I guess there isn’t much stoping the evolution in which we speak.
But another thing we really seem to have a difficult time with is getting older. Something that is completely out of everyone’s control, yet we spend so much time worrying about it. “Adulting” is a term that we’ve made up that makes the hair on my neck stand up. The majority of my friends and I are in our late twenties and early thirties, therefore making us legal adults, in most cases, for more than a decade. Yet we celebrate the events like having grocery shopping on the weekends, go to bed at a reasonable hour, and make our own doctor’s appointments as major accomplishments in our growth as adults. Look, I’m all for healthy celebration but maybe we should set our goals a bit higher. Don’t you think?
I see people complain on social media about how “Old” we’re getting. You’re only one day older than you were yesterday and you weren’t complaining then, so what the hell? We can’t control time but we can embrace it. One of the reasons I make my Videos is so I can look back at all the amazing memories without regret.
Millennials have a life expectancy of just under 90 years. If you’re really concerned about the fact that 1/3 of your life is over, you shouldn’t be. Here’s why.
Do you get upset when you finish just 1/3 of your ice cream or how about 1/3 of your beer? Don’t worry ladies I haven’t forgotten about you. Ever get upset that 1/3 of that bottle of wine you plan on fishing is gone? Are you upset that you’ve got over 65% of your expected life still in front of you full of opportunity? You shouldn’t be. OUR GLASS IS STILL HALF FULL!!!
We use these imaginary timelines to get ourselves down when we feel like we haven’t accomplished what our parents did at our age. The fact is our parents lived MUCH different lives than we did.
I understand that I’m not speaking to the majority of the generation. The majority of our parents married at the age 23 our generation much closer to 30. On average our parents bought houses around the ages of 25-30. Millennials, 30-35. So don’t stress because we’re showing that it’s ok to explore more of what this world has to offer. Our parents generation didn’t have that luxury.
There is no need to rush into the goals of marriage, home ownership, and careers just because you’re a certain age. Don’t get me wrong there will be plenty of people that read this who are married home owners with a rocketing career and that is fantastic but the point I’m trying to make is that we’re not too old to take chances. To go live in another state or country for a year or completely shift careers to something that aligns more with your passion.
The more chances we’re willing to take now, the less regret we’ll have later in life when we truly are on the back 9.
We already won the lottery just by being here. The odds of being born a human in this time are 1 in 400,000,000,000. If you think you’ll get that lucky again then by all means take the routine route. If you’re not willing to rely on those odds twice I’ll see you out embracing this amazing life.