• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

How did you keep being you as you matured?

#21
Keep learning, keep growing,


I asked God for strength that I might achieve
i was made weak that I might learn to obey
I asked for health that I might do great things
I was given infirmity that I might do better things
I asked for riches that I might be happy
I was given poverty that I might be wise
I asked for power when I was young that I might have the praise of men
I was given weakness that I might feel the need for God
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life
I was given life that I might enjoy all things
Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered
I am, among all people most richly blessed.

Anonymous confederate soldier
 
  • Like
Reactions: bolophonic and FilterFunk
#23
  1. Critical Thinking- I have to make the conscious decision to take what everyone says with a grain of salt. Trust but verify.
  2. Ignore Marketing- All advertising are just pretty lies purposefully created to separate me from my money. If I truly wanted what you are trying to sell me, I'd know about it before you told me about it.
  3. Opinions are like @$$holes- Everyone is entitled to their version of reality; enjoy. However, there is an excellent chance I'm going to buffer (ie promptly and purposefully forget) about half of what I hear in a given day.
  4. Work to live, not live to work- After schooling ends the "plan" is for most people to hop on a wheel and just start running for the next 40 years until they either die or are sent out to pasture. They work until they retire and are then too old to really enjoy anything. My 9-5 gets me the money I need to live my life. I don't work overtime and I've pushed very hard to be in an environment where I don't have to work evenings, weekends, or holidays. My life and my family mean more to me than any job.
  5. READ!!- Just because you are out of school doesn't mean you have to stagnate. Whether its classics, fantasy, politics or macroeconomics, I keep reading so my brain doesn't turn to mush. Engaging my imagination with fiction and increasing my knowledge base with non-fiction allows me to think about things, preventing the group think common in pop culture today.
  6. My middle finger- Way back in 1999 the band Slipknot beautifully crafted these lyrics; they are words to live by:
"#%$& it all! #$%& this world! #%$& everything that you stand for! Don't belong! Don't exist! Don't give a $#!^! Don't ever judge me!"
 
  • Like
Reactions: Polfuste and LiquidMidnight
#25
For you yout's....

You don't really grow up in your head. You have a physical age, but your mental age can be quite different. I first became aware of this in a conversation with the mother of a girlfriend many years ago, when she commented: 'In my head I'm the same age I was at 25; it's just that my body lets me down more often."

That really sums it up. I'm no more than 25 in my head, but I have a bit more common sense and my body (age 65) keeps reminding me of things it doesn't want to do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: zontar
#26
I didn't realize this thread would get so philosophical so quickly when I first clicked on it. I've pretty much always been a Sartre existentialist: I don't believe life has inherent meaning; instead, we have to find or create our own meaning. But I digress...

I've always been a nonconformist. I don't consciously attempt to be a nonconformist and I'm not one of those pretentious douches that goes around wearing it like some badge of honor and proclaiming how I'm so much better than the "sheeple" as if I'm a special snowflake. I just do things that seem reasonable to me and that satisfy my muse. Perhaps because of that or in an effort to support that, I've followed a career trajectory that allows a certain level of nonconformity that may not be as tolerated in other sectors. I obtained a high level of education and I currently work in a relatively specialized job in the public sector. Because my job is not contingent upon whether or not someone is gonna go to a competitor, I don't worry too much if my shirt sleeve raises a little bit and a stakeholder gets offended over seeing that I have ink.

Speaking purely personally, I know that I wouldn't be happy in the military or in law enforcement, since those are two very conservative sectors. That's not to denigrate either of those career paths, but I just know that neither would be for me. If that's what you really want to do, then you may have to compromise on some things. But just because you go into either field doesn't mean that you have to fundamentally change the core of who you are. My arms are almost always covered in the day gig situation, and most people with whom I interact through my job probably have no idea that I'm heavily tattooed on both arms. The random people I see on the weekend or at a gig when I'm wearing short sleeves probably have the faintest idea that I have a PhD and that I wrote a really complex and cerebral dissertation to obtain it. You just have to do what feels right and comfortable for you. Sometimes you make a life choice and it feels like a mistake at first. Then you may acclimate and realize it was a good idea. Other times, you may conclude that it was indeed a mistake. But if it's the latter, you have to remember is that nothing is permanent. Learning that you don't like something is sometimes just as useful as learning that you do like something.
 
#27
slobake said:
Keep learning, keep growing,


I asked God for strength that I might achieve
i was made weak that I might learn to obey
I asked for health that I might do great things
I was given infirmity that I might do better things
I asked for riches that I might be happy
I was given poverty that I might be wise
I asked for power when I was young that I might have the praise of men
I was given weakness that I might feel the need for God
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life
I was given life that I might enjoy all things
Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered
I am, among all people most richly blessed.

Anonymous confederate soldier
Click to expand...
Awesome.
 
#29
HeavyAxe said:
Hey, folks! As I'm finishing up my schooling, I've been thinking a lot about the future. My plans so far are to either go into the police force or the military (but I know things can change). Though I plan to get an education beforehand. Either way, both of these careers are fairly strict and uniform so to speak. As a long haired metalhead I probably do not look like the type with an interest in such careers, but I do.

Anyways, I'm just wondering how you folks maintained your individuality and so forth as you matured. While I am actually a critic of the individuality often present in today's world, I still am of course unique with my own interests. And I have no problem adapting to the group mentality of military life, but I still want to be who I am. Any thoughts? Personal experience?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
How do you define "individuality"? The length of your hair? The style of your clothes? Your individuality is already imprinted on your brain. Everything you do and will do is shaped by that imprint. I've been a student, a Marine, a pseudo-hippie, a draftsman, a circuit board designer, a teacher, a scientist, an engineer, an executive, a musician and who knows what the hell else. I've always been the same person. As you mature and gain life experience, it gets easier to deal with the inevitable challenges you'll face. You are defined by your mind. No one can control your conscience (unless you let them).

For me, the constants have been a desire to be rational, honest, fair and law abiding. I try to keep my sense of humor even in stressful times. I can be cynical at times, but I think there's good cause to be cynical sometimes.

Another thing is to try to associate with people you respect and with whom you share common interests. Even in the Marine Corps I had a good time. There were always certain superiors who had to be dealt with, but alliances with peers made that a lot easier (sometimes to the chagrin of the superior). Again, a good sense of humor is very useful. I've never really had problems with having a boss. I always focused on the job at hand, recognizing my boss has a different job whether I think he's good at it or not. In the end, how you do your job is what reflects on you. Like I tell students when I go to career days at the high schools: "Do your best at whatever you're doing. Do that for 20 years, and you'll be set."
 
#30
Ironbar said:
Military training isn't designed to remove your individuality with group-think. It's designed to tear you down and then re-build you in military fashion so that when someone gives you an order to jump, you DON'T ask, "How high", you just f-ing jump without asking!

That said, my individuality is quite different at age 49 than it was in my 20's. I learn, I grow, I change. I know some people who HAVEN'T changed from their very early days. Those are the people that society in general usually refers to as immature losers.
Click to expand...
I was actually pretty mature in my younger days, so ...
 
#32
I think at least for me you mature when you have children. I still play and enjoy life, but as for me being me of my youth that guy is out of here. He drinking too much, he was reckless, he raced street rods he jumped between rooftops, he would throw down in a heart beat. He had an ego the size of a freaking mountain and a attitude to match. Who as the song says "He lived his life like there was no tomorrow" VH Really good example of reckless played chicken head on collusion at 40 mph crush the front of my 69 Caprice front end like a bug.
 
#34
Frank Tuesday said:
Two things.
1. Read my sig.
2. Maturity is acting like an adult when you have to, and acting like a child when you can.
Click to expand...
^This. So much this.

I chose to embrace responsibility. I like being dependable. Even on my own time, I like being helpful. But I do reserve some time for myself, and in those totally "me" moments, I do what I feel like doing.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back