I can remember walking in the front doors of my high school for freshman orientation almost as well as I remember walking across the stage at graduation. Four years in between those two big life events and it seems like the blink of an eye. I can remember signing up for my first college classes and I remember moving out after my freshman year of college. Two events, almost a year apart. It seems to be a small hick up in time. It's almost as if no matter how much you try to slow down the clock, it always speeds up and keeps going.
When I was younger, I wanted to be older. At age nine, I wanted to be ten so I could get a cell phone. At age 12, I wanted to be 13 so I could create a social media account. At age 15, I wanted to be 16 so I could drive and get a car. At age 17, I wanted to be 18 so I could go to college and so that I could start new adventures as an adult. Now, at age 19, I want things to slow. I don't want to watch time pass so quickly. It seems that this is how it works for everyone my age though. We miss the days of recess in elementary school and we miss the days when the worst thing was homework on a Friday.
The younger we are, the more we want to grow up. We see the things that we think are fun about being older. Driving around in a car that is our own. Working a few hours (rather than going to school) and buying the things you want to buy. The older we get, the more we want to be young again. We realize that being older isn't what we thought it would be. We want no more responsibilities. No more bills and no more deadlines for work. But all in all, we keep wishing time away. It's not that we don't want to enjoy the stage of life that we are currently in, it's that there isn't enough time to get everything we want done.
I think that we need to tell those younger than us not to wish away their time. Time is such a precious thing and we don't want to waste it. I think that for those older than us, they should share their mistakes and their stories so we can make the most of our time while we are young. I think that for those that are my age, we should enjoy the time we have. We are you and we are living in the time when anything is possible.
We need to embrace time, not be afraid of it. We should all live in the moment and we should take chances. We need to live life with no regrets. Time is not going to stop for us to get our lives together and I have a feeling that it isn't going to slow down either.
