Adulting to learn the secret recipe
When I was a teenager, all I ever wanted to do was grow up, earn the big bucks and splurge like there is no tomorrow. Back then, I believed teenagers had more things to worry about in comparison to an adult. Endless drama in school, exams, homework, tuitions, what should we play in the evening, man, the list was just exhausting.
I would look at the crowd who just entered the race (job) and would think they have it all together. But now, as I “adult” into life, I know for a fact, all that glam and glory, was just a façade.
Don’t get me wrong, the earning your salary bit is pretty great, BUT, what I didn’t realize is that during our entire life span, we, are constantly trying to figure things out. My parents, who have been on Earth, since the world population was just 3.1 billion; are equally puzzled about life and existence (if not more) as I am.
Since I entered my twenties, I have observed that life is this long list of questions we try to answer. This observation which was pretty toned down during my teens has now suddenly become like the highlighter we use on our faces.
Hang on, I know it sounds weird but I am on to something here.
Highlighter, is basically makeup that attracts light, creating the illusion of brightness, hence, giving you that lit-from-within look.
How are we similar you ask? In life, we, tick off/answer one question after another. If you can answer questions like “what do you want to be when you grow up?”, “When will you get married”? or “when will you have kids?” etc without hesitating even for a second, then congratulations my friend, you have attained the eternal lit look in the eyes of our O.C.D driven society.
Lately, it seems like we are on this quest to find the secret recipe to a perfect life. Hence, we as a society, have prepared a standard questionnaire for all the individuals.
Ever since I’ve realized this, I have entered a stage in my life where I instantly cringe the second I walk into a room and see another person. “Homo sapien. tch…tch…tch…” says my brain in Morgan Freeman’s voice.
The reason why this happens is rather simple. Anyone elder to me who wants to have a conversation, basically just wants to know, “what is my future plan”. My brain immediately wants to tell them to mind their own business, but instead, I smile and politely answer,” I am trying to figure things out.”
I want to tell them quite frankly, that at this point in my life my WhatsApp has more “plans” (WhatsApp groups named “plan kya hai?/scene kya hai?”) than I EVER did, in my 24 years of existence.
After they hear the word (“I am trying to figure things out”), 90% of them get triggered and burst into a long-passed on generational speech about how important it is to plan every step of the way in your life.
What do I do? I nod to everything they say, while I daydream about the most random things on Earth.
I don’t mean to be crass, I genuinely appreciate the effort, but, if you are actually trying to help me, the least you can do is re-frame the sentences in the good old speech. Is it just me or does every adult sound the same?
Maybe it is the generation gap, but I always had a hard time wrapping my mind over the “normal routine” of life. You know get good marks in 12th, get in a good college, get a job, get married, buy a house and car way above your pay-grade, have children, pay the E.M.I’s for the next 40 years, retire and then just die. I just find it a little too monotonous and boring. Shouldn’t we use the opportunity of being born as human and Carpe the damn Diem out of life?
Granted, our sense of “adventure” and “experiments” is one of the main reason why this planet is doomed, but I mean, I will be damned if I end up telling my grandchildren that more than half my life went by just paying bills and by the time I realized I should have splurged a little on myself, traveled and explored the world more, I was already in a wheelchair.
But then again, if it were that simple, wouldn’t someone have found the secret recipe by now?
Maybe, I’ll become a hypocrite and not practice what I preach today. Maybe, I’ll try to grow up to be someone who figures out a way of life without the passed on concrete and rigid ideologies. Or maybe, just maybe, our life was never meant to be a series of questions we need to answer.
