The first time I listened to "7 Years" by the band Lukas Graham, I added it to my Spotify playlists and found myself listening to it on repeat, over and over and over again. Why? Sure, there's a great rhythm and the beat becomes pretty powerful halfway through, but the words are what I enjoyed.
Although I'm sure the band members experienced a completely different childhood than I did, and these lyrics may mean something completely different to me than they were intended to, they managed to bring my memories to life.
"It was a big big world, but we thought we were bigger
Pushing each other to the limits, we were learning quicker"
These lines from the first verse bring me back to when I was seven. It was a big world, and I did think I was bigger. It's hard to go through life, reach goals, have accomplishments and move up in the world, and then be able to think back and remember our mindsets before any of that happened. When I was seven, I was just starting to read chapter books. I hadn't learned what the real world was like; I hadn't experienced the loss of a family member; I hadn't found what I was passionate about.
"Once I was 20 years old, my story got told
Before the morning sun, when life was lonely
Once I was 20 years old"
Playing off the lines "Go get yourself some friends or you'll be lonely," the band fast forwards to being 20 years old.
"I only see my goals, I don't believe in failure
Cause I know the smallest voices, they can make it major"
"Once I was 20 years old, my story got told
I was writing about everything, I saw before me
Once I was 20 years old"
When I hear the words "I was writing about everything I saw before me," I think of my articles or creative stories but not everyone writes things like that. When you write a research paper for your college course, you write about what you see in life. When you write a Facebook post or send out a Tweet, you also write about what you see in life. Your story gets told.
"Soon I'll be 60 years old, will I think the world is cold
Or will I have a lot of children who can warm me
Soon I'll be 60 years old"
After going from seven to 11, to 20 to 30 years old, experiencing liquor, drugs, death, loneliness, and a wife and children, there is the curiosity of how everything will turn out. What will be your outlook at life? Soon, I'll be 60 years old. Right now it doesn't seem like that -- I'm nearly 20. That's a lot of time to make mistakes, experience life-changing events, and make a life for myself.
Time is just a complicated thing. Once, I was a young, innocent child playing on the swings in the backyard, swimming in the oh-so-scary deep end of the pool, without a care in the world. Once, I was 7 years old.
