Base-pounding music, a bag of pretzels and one shot of tequila — this defines my 21st birthday in a nutshell.
I waited 21 years for this day. During my last underage year, I marked down each passing month as a milestone.
What do I recall the most? Devoting most of the night passed out on my boyfriend’s lap.
While I should’ve been dancing on tables and taking Yeager bombs, I was home asleep by one in the morning. Not quite how I pictured spending this day of infamy.
The sad thing is I wished a year of my life away that I’ll never be able to get back.
Instead of enjoying my last hours of being a minor, I spent time ticking down the days like a bomb about to explode. I should have been reviling my youth, not rejoicing its end.
I think it’s a force of habit to wish our lives away. When I was 15, I wanted to be 18. After turning 18, I couldn’t wait for the day I would be 21.
Now that I’ve reached this age, though, I wish I wouldn’t have wanted it to arrive so quickly.
It’s always the same sob story.
When we’re young, we’re too naïve to realize the benefits of being an adolescent. However, once we’re adults, we want to re-live that period over again.
I’m sure I wasn’t the only one whose parents told me, “Don’t wish your life away.” I bet most of us wish we had listened to them.
It seems like everyone is always looking for the next best thing or the closest point to reach. They’re constantly living in the future and never the present.
I would know. I used to be like that. I’m not saying it’s wrong to set and obtain goals. I just don’t understand why people would waste the present time in order to achieve those dreams.
Everyone wants something to live for, as they should, but why not live for the moment?
The quantity of time we actually have gets taken for granted. Unfortunately, the quality is misused, as well.
Worry also tends to affect our forgetfulness about the current time. As college students, the anxiety of exams, term papers and passing classes cause most of us to look toward spring break and vacation.
Even during the week, we’re always looking to rejoice in 48 hours of freedom when the weekend hits. Once work rolls around, the focus is stressed too much on getting off rather than actually putting in the effort for it.
When it comes to education, students can’t wait to get out into the real world. The majority of our adolescent lives are usually spent struggling through high school and college, longing for the day when we can escape — but for what? To be rejected in job interviews, broke and still living with the folks?
The present is always the best time, especially now. We are allowed to experience the world without consequences and make slip-ups without severe damage.
It won’t fly in the future, so we should use the capability we have now to create mistakes. In the end, however, I’m not Peter Pan and certainly can’t fly off to Never Never Land. We all have to grow up eventually.
There are definite benefits to getting older, though, such as driving and no curfew hours. There’s definitely an increase of independence and a new sense of maturity — although this isn’t the case for some.
Hopefully, as we remember the consequences of our actions, we grow to be smarter, as well.
But I still believe it’s important to appreciate moments while they last and live in the present.
By distancing ourselves and distracting from the day-to-day activities, we’re losing a sense of our present selves.
Before too long, I’m going to be 30 and reminiscing about the good ol’ days. In the meantime, I’ll just be living one day at a time.
By CLAIRE MUNN
Profiles Editor
clamunn@umail.iu.edu