Our lives are marked by these number centered landmarks. We are always chasing the next one. Maybe we don't realize it, but as a child, each year is simply marked by a birthday but not much changes from year to year. Then we reach high school. Suddenly, we are dying to be 16 so we can drive, have our own sense of freedom. Once we get there, we start dying to be 18, an adult, graduating high school, moving out on our own so we can make our own rules. Then we're dying to be 21, legally able to drink, able to go out to the bars or buy bottles of liquor, wine or beer to have around the house.
And thats just it, we seem to have all this time, but before we know it we're no longer going to be dying for the next landmark, we're simply going to be dying. We'll find ourselves laying there wondering why we never read that book, visted that country, learned to cook, climbed that moment, or did any of the things you wanted to do. Depressing isn't it?
But the good news is, it doesn't have to be. Because I can assume if you are reading this you are probably between the ages of 18 and 25, which is good news. Why? Because that means you have all of the time in the world to go do these things. I'm guilty of doing this as well. I find myself a month away from my 21st birthday - 30 days - and more than once I've been jealous to the point of almost being angry at all my friends who have passed this particularly landmark. I don't know why, it's not that big of a deal - or so you'd think. However, we place so much importance on these trivial years, that we forget to enjoy the time in between. Yes, on your 20th birthday, other than getting to celebrate another year, nothing really exciting happens. You don't get any more rights than you had at 19. I see Instagram captions all the time that read, "20th birthday, let the count down begin."
But think about all you can do in a year. You could write a book, go on a trip to another country, learn a language, fall in love, find a new group of friends, roadtrip around the country, put more effort into school or sports, start going to the gym, start eating healthier. All of these things you promise you'll do someday don't have an age limit or a degree requirement, so go do them. 'Cause I promise you that someday sooner than you think you'll get bogged down in the responsibility of life and then you won't have time. You'll have a career, a family, or other things tying you to a place or a schedule. Time will slip away from you before you know it.
So in the wise words of Tim Mcgraw, "Live like you were dying." Stop making excuses and just go have an adventure, whatever that may mean to you.
