I never understood my generation’s obsession with “growing up”
When it’s perceived as attainable, there’s a real appeal to joining the independent ownership class of professionals. Live in your own house, cultivate your own personal fortune, pursue your own career goals, hit those iconic milestones of adulthood that reward you with comfort and convenience and luxury.
Now that we’re here, all grown up and middle age, what do we do now?
I know quite a few people who still party, well into their fifties. But they also got the jump on family life early and saw their kids off to college years ago. They’re rich enough to work part time, go on vacations regularly, and enjoy nice food, a beautiful house, and various household luxuries.
I also know a few people who never stopped partying, straight out of college. I’ve got a friend who is a professional fire spinner at the Renaissance Festival. Perpetually broke couch surfer who regularly hooks up with girls half his age and never wakes up before noon, then pulls together just enough money to make it to the next Burning Man Festival and cash in on other people’s willingness to sponsor his spectacle.
Who is living better? Idk. I’m a desk jockey with a wife and a dog and a little guy of my own to take care of. And I’m happy for it. But I could have been just as happy under different circumstances. There’d just be trade-offs. You can’t help looking at the grass in the neighbor’s pasture and wondering “What if?”
When it’s perceived as attainable, there’s a real appeal to joining the independent ownership class of professionals. Live in your own house, cultivate your own personal fortune, pursue your own career goals, hit those iconic milestones of adulthood that reward you with comfort and convenience and luxury.
I know quite a few people who still party, well into their fifties. But they also got the jump on family life early and saw their kids off to college years ago. They’re rich enough to work part time, go on vacations regularly, and enjoy nice food, a beautiful house, and various household luxuries.
I also know a few people who never stopped partying, straight out of college. I’ve got a friend who is a professional fire spinner at the Renaissance Festival. Perpetually broke couch surfer who regularly hooks up with girls half his age and never wakes up before noon, then pulls together just enough money to make it to the next Burning Man Festival and cash in on other people’s willingness to sponsor his spectacle.
Who is living better? Idk. I’m a desk jockey with a wife and a dog and a little guy of my own to take care of. And I’m happy for it. But I could have been just as happy under different circumstances. There’d just be trade-offs. You can’t help looking at the grass in the neighbor’s pasture and wondering “What if?”