Obssession With Youth
Youth. It's everywhere. Try driving down the road for 2 minutes and not seeing a billboard promising some form of youth for sale. America is obssessed with youth. How to enjoy it when you have it, how to hold on to it as we move past it, and how to have it, cut, sucked, botoxed, filled, and enhanced along the way. Growing old gracefully is something Americans just don't do anymore. For the most part, we fight time with every nickle, dime, and ounce of energy.
I am currently serving in South Korea. Asia is "different" than back home. Their society is built on order, on status, and status is only earned as people age. Wisdom is revered here. Age is looked on as something to be respected. Having said that, and as much as I admire it, it is also a place where new ideas, creativity, and the ability to look outside the box just don't exist societally. They are great "copiers" of good ideas. They're great at making things faster, cheaper, and more efficiently. But they're not good at creating.
America is a nation of dreamers. It is also a place where people take dreams and make them a reality. If you think back the last 120 years, practically every major invention which has shaped the entire planet has come from our country. We're good at being creative. That in my opinion is why so many of us, by far the vast majority of us are so tied and obssessed with youth. We think if we can just be young again, we can finally get a do-over. We can finally get it right. Let's be honest, youth ties us to the days when we still had the world in front of us. Those days when our dreams were still completely attainable. When our lives were completely in front of us. Not like today when we're somewhere in the middle, or even closer towards the end of our journey and maybe we're not where we expected to be.
Thus understandably, we all think back to when all things were still possible; our youth. I totally get why youth is so popular in America. Having said that, I think we put so much energy into trying to become what we once were, we miss the most important point; "why" we want to get there.
I don't know about you all, but I look back to my jheri curl, zipper jacket, parachute pants days, and if I'm really honest with myself, I really don't want to "be" my 17 year old self again. I was kind of a dummy. I sure wasn't at the best point in my life to be great savior of my fate. I bet some of you will agree.
What we are really in search of is the potential to do anything, be anyone, to chase our dreams. I submit, you don't have to go back to being a 17 year old version of yourself to gain the benefits you seek. You see, as we grow into adults, society and circumstance put up walls around us. We start hearing you "can't." We hear it so much, we begin to believe it. We believe age determines our choices. I disagree. Anything you could do at 17, you can do better today.
I absolutely understand the responsibilities you shoulder are probably of great weight. I get that you are "stuck" in your position and you don't know how to get out. I also get that you are full of it. You make excuses because it's easier to make excuses than to actually get off ur ass and "do" something. You blame your situation, your upbringing, your family, your genes, your whatever. At the end of the day though, you have the power right now. You've always had the power to change your life. Yet, you keep doing the same thing day in and day out, and you expect something to change.
If you want change, then today is the best day you've ever lived. Because today is the day you can decide to, and begin to act towads your goals. Doesn't matter what they are. They are still attainable.
Want to be a PhD? Want the job of your dreams? Want to kick that habit? Then do it. Stop making excuses. Stop saying "if I were younger I could." I know it's cliche, but today is the first day of the rest of your life. So make it count. Sunday is the start of the new week. Make it the start of your new life. Start today. I believe in you, you just have to believe in yourself.
I am currently serving in South Korea. Asia is "different" than back home. Their society is built on order, on status, and status is only earned as people age. Wisdom is revered here. Age is looked on as something to be respected. Having said that, and as much as I admire it, it is also a place where new ideas, creativity, and the ability to look outside the box just don't exist societally. They are great "copiers" of good ideas. They're great at making things faster, cheaper, and more efficiently. But they're not good at creating.
America is a nation of dreamers. It is also a place where people take dreams and make them a reality. If you think back the last 120 years, practically every major invention which has shaped the entire planet has come from our country. We're good at being creative. That in my opinion is why so many of us, by far the vast majority of us are so tied and obssessed with youth. We think if we can just be young again, we can finally get a do-over. We can finally get it right. Let's be honest, youth ties us to the days when we still had the world in front of us. Those days when our dreams were still completely attainable. When our lives were completely in front of us. Not like today when we're somewhere in the middle, or even closer towards the end of our journey and maybe we're not where we expected to be.
Thus understandably, we all think back to when all things were still possible; our youth. I totally get why youth is so popular in America. Having said that, I think we put so much energy into trying to become what we once were, we miss the most important point; "why" we want to get there.
I don't know about you all, but I look back to my jheri curl, zipper jacket, parachute pants days, and if I'm really honest with myself, I really don't want to "be" my 17 year old self again. I was kind of a dummy. I sure wasn't at the best point in my life to be great savior of my fate. I bet some of you will agree.
What we are really in search of is the potential to do anything, be anyone, to chase our dreams. I submit, you don't have to go back to being a 17 year old version of yourself to gain the benefits you seek. You see, as we grow into adults, society and circumstance put up walls around us. We start hearing you "can't." We hear it so much, we begin to believe it. We believe age determines our choices. I disagree. Anything you could do at 17, you can do better today.
I absolutely understand the responsibilities you shoulder are probably of great weight. I get that you are "stuck" in your position and you don't know how to get out. I also get that you are full of it. You make excuses because it's easier to make excuses than to actually get off ur ass and "do" something. You blame your situation, your upbringing, your family, your genes, your whatever. At the end of the day though, you have the power right now. You've always had the power to change your life. Yet, you keep doing the same thing day in and day out, and you expect something to change.
If you want change, then today is the best day you've ever lived. Because today is the day you can decide to, and begin to act towads your goals. Doesn't matter what they are. They are still attainable.
Want to be a PhD? Want the job of your dreams? Want to kick that habit? Then do it. Stop making excuses. Stop saying "if I were younger I could." I know it's cliche, but today is the first day of the rest of your life. So make it count. Sunday is the start of the new week. Make it the start of your new life. Start today. I believe in you, you just have to believe in yourself.
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