Adulthood: Our Second Adolescence
Is adulthood just a second adolescence?
I'm still so sensitive, maybe now more than ever. I wonder if this is the time to unravel what was learned in childhood, our teens, our 20's - and do something about it. I can look back and dissect the moments that turned out to define me much more than I would have known. That awareness is maybe what it means to be grown. I now know that I have the choice to cultivate my own evolution. I think of my mom. How could someone abandon a baby? How does a person throw away something so attached to them? I grew up wondering this. But I wanted an answer, nothing else. I didn't want to understand, or grow. I just wanted to be given what I wanted and that's it. But as an adult, I can see that an answer wouldn't have solved anything. What I really wanted was a time machine. I no longer have such wants, because I can truly accept that life is full of strange pains and beauties; all challenges to face as we are ready.
We all make choices that ripple and alter more than we could know. A single choice can change not only our own life, but the lives of others. In fact, every choice we ever make does. And if we're lucky, we get the chance to look back and learn from them. No answers are promised, but a lesson always is. There are so many forces at work that want us to forget. For most of us, we've been taught that it's normal to experience a waning for the desire to grow. Our roots of curiosity become blunted and forced into the confines of an organized system. And that's very acceptable. Our soul is given a kind of cubicle. As time is stolen away, our thoughts and actions become crowded until we only have space for survival. But what about thriving? Especially so that future generations may thrive as well?
I've been fascinated with the cultural obsession with youth. As we get old, the only way to stay relevant is by clinging to whatever semblance of youth we can. This feels backwards somehow. Where are our elders? What are we hoping to become? Is it that the wisdom we once passed down is dying? I don’t know. But I fear that it's in danger of being forgotten as a way of being, and growing together.
Where I live, intergenerational households are hard to find. This feels normal on this continent, but it's certainly not the norm for the majority of human life. I truly hope to see a return to something old and versed, assisted by the best parts of the new. Our ancestors and descendants rely on us as a bridge between worlds, and I'd like to be a strong one.
