Growing up...

Techmonkey · #1 10-08-2008, 04:08 PM

it just sunk in that this Christmas eve is going to be my third Christmas working at Boots, and I realized how quickly my life is passing before my eyes.

I'm finishing off my university applications and getting ready to leave next year, I've passed my drivers test, people in shops have started to call me sir, I can actually command respect from people younger than me, I chose to keep my hair and facial hair neatly styled, and formal dress has suddenly started appealing to me more and more.

I find myself wanting less and less to be rich and famous, and more and more looking forward to being able to come home to a dram of bowmore and a piano.

It's not that I regret not having LIVED more - I've been incredibly fortunate with the opportunities that I have had, and I do not regret much of what I have done or what I haven't done. It's just that I'm worried I'm going to be 24 by time I graduate and then all of a sudden I'll be a dad with a mortgage and a house and kids and a wife and then I'll be dead by the end of next week.

Anyone else around my age feel this way, and do any of you wiser folk remember feeling like this way back when?

MatticusMania · #2 10-08-2008, 04:16 PM

Such is life man, you live, you learn, you grow.

I'm 24 right now. A little over a year ago I got married, and all that was happening. My life was changing in a way I really didnt want it to. Since then the marriage has gone south, I'm now single again, and living the way I want to live life. Youre never too old or too young to grow up. That still doesnt mean that you have to give up the things you love and make commitments you don't want to. As you get older, life moves faster. The days go by quicker, the years fly by. But you'll always have time for the things you love, if you love them enough you'll MAKE time for them. Time is what you make of it.

EricF · #3 10-08-2008, 04:29 PM

At 20, I thought I knew everything and I was bullet-proof. At 40, I realize I don't know **** and I'm happy to be living. If you chart it out, 24 isn't very far away from 20. I didn't feel "grown-up" until I was in my 30's. You have a LOT of great years ahead of you if you just realx and enjoy them.

Brummie · #4 10-08-2008, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Techmonkey

I'm finishing off my university applications and getting ready to leave next year, I've passed my drivers test, people in shops have started to call me sir, I can actually command respect from people younger than me, I chose to keep my hair and facial hair neatly styled, and formal dress has suddenly started appealing to me more and more.

Wow,
People here call you 'SIR' when did you get your Knighthood.

tplyons · #5 10-08-2008, 09:49 PM

I feel like an old man half the time and just a kid the other half. I wish I'd lived more, but at the same time, I've got to buckle down now. I know what you mean, I look at most college students as kids, and most adults as peers. I just sat down to dinner with the CMO of a local corporation as partners on a project. That was when I decided I was fairly grown up.

DudeistMonk · #6 10-08-2008, 10:01 PM

I'm 24 (EDIT:23, oh crap I'm so old keeping track of my age has stopped mattering to me!) and recently (over the past 4 or 5 years) all the stuff that appears to only happen in fiction or on TV is become real to me... People getting abortions, ending up in rehab, people stabbing people, going crazy, getting abused...and then all the dirty history of everyone I've known since I was a kid is starting to seep out of the woodwork, and I'm seeing people for who they really are.

That is the most shocking thing about "growing up" when things you thought didn't happen to people like you do. If I would have read this 6 years ago, I would have been like, "where the hell does that guy live, and who is he hanging out with?" Now I know its real life.

theshadow2001 · #7 10-09-2008, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatticusMania

I'm 24 right now. A little over a year ago I got married, and all that was happening.

Man, you guys get married way too young over there. Which certainly wouldn't help with the feeling of getting older.

For the most part I want to be five again. Every thing's brilliant when your five.

JNowiski · #8 10-09-2008, 07:22 AM

i think i've decided i'm not going to grow up. Just not gonna do it.

mjolnir · #9 10-09-2008, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JNowiski

i think i've decided i'm not going to grow up. Just not gonna do it.

Simple, direct, I like it.

I suddenly have the urge to go out and buy a Nerf gun... They still make those?

Phalex · #10 10-09-2008, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjolnir

Simple, direct, I like it.

I suddenly have the urge to go out and buy a Nerf gun... They still make those?

Good luck finding one. They announced a big recall on them today. Something about getting body parts pinched in mechanism.

mjolnir · #11 10-09-2008, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phalex

Good luck finding one. They announced a big recall on them today. Something about getting body parts pinched in mechanism.

...Party pooper.

JustOpenYourMind · #12 10-09-2008, 08:53 AM

Man, you are 17, the true party is beggining. I mean yeah, it was fun hangin' out with your friends when you were 15 and get drunk and stuff like that. Wait till you get a paying job, an appartment and have your independence so you can finally do what YOU want to do with your life.

I'm 23, soon 24 and certainly ain't founding a family anytime soon. Life is so much more enjoyable when your in your 20's you just don't know it yet, 24 seems old when you are 17 but trust me, it ain't.

EricF · #13 10-09-2008, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustOpenYourMind

I'm 23, soon 24 and certainly ain't founding a family anytime soon. Life is so much more enjoyable when your in your 20's you just don't know it yet, 24 seems old when you are 17 but trust me, it ain't.

Here's a tip from an "old" guy...life in your 30's is even better, you just don't know it yet.

JustOpenYourMind · #14 10-09-2008, 09:33 AM

Haha, I comparing the 20's with teenage years. But i'm sure you are right though, I think I'll be happy in my 30's...

if I can manage to avoid the infamous beer gut that most guy in their 30's seem to develop

MakiSupaStar · #15 10-09-2008, 10:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EricF

Here's a tip from an "old" guy...life in your 30's is even better, you just don't know it yet.

Yeah, I'm realizing that at the tail end of my thirties.

Phalex · #16 10-09-2008, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

Yeah, I'm realizing that at the tail end of my thirties.

Uh oh..........

Got some bad news for you about the '40's. Live it up while you can brother!

EricF · #17 10-09-2008, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phalex

Uh oh..........

Got some bad news for you about the '40's. Live it up while you can brother!

Yup. I can look back at my life and say, "Those were my best years." For me, it was 34-36.

MatticusMania · #18 10-09-2008, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjolnir

Simple, direct, I like it.

I suddenly have the urge to go out and buy a Nerf gun... They still make those?

They do! Nerf is the best!

Nerf bow & arrow!!!!