As I am drawn through the day-to-day meanderings that make up my world, I am encountering more and more youngish people on the verge of being thrown into the rough-and-tumble adult world… and I can’t help but think that, for the most part, they just aren’t properly prepared for it. Hell, I know I wasn’t.. and I sure wish that someone had made a few suggestions at key moments when I might have listened.
These days I’m fighting with a number of different demons, not the least of which is self awareness. I always thought that I was ‘aware’, but the more time I spend on the business of living, I am discovering that I spent way too much of my time ‘being cool’ instead of being aware. And to be aware means to live, fully. Now I’m not suggesting that finding your cool, and being the you in the cool is a problem or a waste of time or energy, but what I am saying is that your cool can have a drive-by sort of relationship with the mainstream, not-quite-so-cool world that awaits you. And from those occasional oblique visitations with the mainstream world, you may find that your level of satisfaction increases, and, strangely enough, sustained happiness becomes a lot easier.
Its about doing yourself and those around you the favour… get into living it, and stop standing outside watching it live you…
I doubt that anyone of the target group is listening now, but here is a short list of some of the things I wish I had done in preparation;
- learn to dance
- learn to meditate
- learn to negotiate and mediate
- learn to manage time
- learn to manage friends
- learn to manage money
- understand when to wear the uniform of the rowdy thrill seeking ‘kid’, and when and how to wear the uniform of responsibility
- how and when to shave
- learned earlier when it was time to think about personal hygiene; when to begin using deodorant, when to begin showering daily, when/how often to wash my hair, face and hands
- how not to chew fingernails
- learning when to spend on quality, and when to spend on throwaways
- how to buy good shoes
- bought a good bed
- learn to cook
- learn to tell a good bottle of wine from overpriced plonk
- develop a lifelong exercise regime
- learn yoga/tai chi
- learn to type
- learn how to set a table properly
- learn how to use all of the cutlery and when
- get a motorcycle license
- learn to swim
- learn the difference between intimacy and sex
So that’s the short list, without explanations. There is, of course, a longer list, and all of the stories and explanations that substantiate them. Those will come later as I grow bolder, and irrevocably older…