Yep. It's a lie.
People grow tired, grow apart, grow indifferent, but never grow "up".
It was a term coined for growing old, but getting old does not necessitate "up"-grading your status as a human being. In fact, most people get older without changing much of their personality, most likely acquired throughout their childhood and teenage years. They "grow" one of the aforementioned things, but never "up."
I know I sound stupid/too philosophical, but try and hear me out for a second. How many of us are living a life now that is basically an incarnation of our parents' hopes for us when they were kids?
Alright, these are the unlucky bunch.
Now, how many of us are living "their dream"? Lucky people, eh?
Well, looks like both are trapped now in the expectations that held them as little kids, whether their parents' or theirs. Which is unfortunate, I mean, it only proves that none of us has really grown up, and that who we are now is a larger, less excited, less intuitive version of ourselves as kids. One that's more prone to illness and mental instability. One that has loved and lost, experienced innumerable disappointments, inflicted pain and was afflicted by it; a shattered version of our true selves.
If that's what growing up means, it should have been called "growing anything-else-but-up".
People grow tired, grow apart, grow indifferent, but never grow "up".
It was a term coined for growing old, but getting old does not necessitate "up"-grading your status as a human being. In fact, most people get older without changing much of their personality, most likely acquired throughout their childhood and teenage years. They "grow" one of the aforementioned things, but never "up."
I know I sound stupid/too philosophical, but try and hear me out for a second. How many of us are living a life now that is basically an incarnation of our parents' hopes for us when they were kids?
Alright, these are the unlucky bunch.
Now, how many of us are living "their dream"? Lucky people, eh?
Well, looks like both are trapped now in the expectations that held them as little kids, whether their parents' or theirs. Which is unfortunate, I mean, it only proves that none of us has really grown up, and that who we are now is a larger, less excited, less intuitive version of ourselves as kids. One that's more prone to illness and mental instability. One that has loved and lost, experienced innumerable disappointments, inflicted pain and was afflicted by it; a shattered version of our true selves.
If that's what growing up means, it should have been called "growing anything-else-but-up".
Interesting post! At first glance, it seems to ring true for me. There was just one word that I would change. You wrote:
ReplyDelete"People grow tired, grow apart, grow indifferent, but never grow "up".
I would put the words "most people" in front of the word "never":
"but most people never grow up".
There are thriving, intuitive people out there who are full of life, they are just hard to find haha! :)
Well, it's just my opinion. Seems like even the greatest of people would rather stay young forever. Actually, a lot of them are still scarred by their past, which is disheartening and even makes them work for the wrong reasons.
DeleteJust a thought of mine :)
Nice thought! :) There are certainly pitfalls to avoid at all ages as you say. I just keep reading my bible and putting one foot in front of the other. :)
ReplyDelete