Late Night Fiction A blog of much perspicaciousness

Getting Old? No way.

After working a 9-5 job this summer, between my first and second year of college, I've started to realize some things. When I was doing the same thing two summers ago I didn't worry about much because I had plenty of friends around and I could always go off and hang out with them, even easily take vacations. But now I find myself slowly slipping into old age. I get up in the morning, go to work, eat lunch, go back to work, come home and laze around.

But after this year of college the one thing I've realized is that I can do things I want to do while still balancing the things I need to. I don't want to grow up. Along with old age comes a lot of complacency, stubbornness, and overall pessimism. I mean we're usually happy when we're over the "hump" and half-way done with things—everything except life. So yeah, who wouldn't be upset? But this is why I don't stop at the end of the work day. In college, after I was done with class for the day I'd go hang out with friends and go party or eat or dance or something. Now, after work, I go hang out with friends or go see a movie or go to a concert like I did last night—even if it keeps me out till 12 (or 2 in my case). Some breakfast and a vitamin in the morning gets me going just fine, no matter how many times I hit the snooze button. And this is where the balance comes in. Because I could easily wake up five minutes before I had to leave for work and just run out the door (I'd want to sleep some more). On the other hand, I need to be able to stay productive (not to mention awake) and I want to be able to be relaxed and have some "me" time before I have to give my time to someone else. It just seems like many people lose track of doing the things they want.

My point here is that keeping these things we have in our youth seems to be the only consistent way to remain happy—at least for me. I know I'll never be able to simply roll over and accept my fate as someone whose life used to be great and one worth living but has become a waiting game for a magical retirement age or the soon-to-come man in a black cloak. But it took a lot to get to this point. Somehow I'm not afraid to die and I've truly accepted and internalized the fact that I'm going to at some point in my life. When you're that sure about something and only that something, I guess the only thing left to do is take advantage of and milk every bit of enjoyment out of the situation you're currently in.