It’s been a long time in updating hasn’t it?
lessee… cedar lakes (awesome), skiing (even more awesome), work (lots and lots of) and uni (not enough). That’s in a nutshell what i’ve been up to.
The usual promises of photos and news could be forthwith, but to be honest, this is the first time i’ve had leisure to have deep and meaningful time with my laptop in over 4 weeks. And as much as I adore doing everything and being everywhere, i think i need to stop making promises that I can’t keep (or keep by the skin of my teeth).
Suffice to say that I’ve had a blast over the holidays, and I can’t wait to go back skiing only slightly less than I am excited about my end of year trip to the middle east. Which is excitement of gargantuan proportions, infused with red cordial and topped with blue MnMs. mmmm….
It’s weird, but at the same time I’ve also wanted to comment for awhile on the strange dichotomy of feeling older and young at the same time. I’ve been 23 for nearly 2 months now, and while a great many of my peers are studying/completing study/starting careers, a smaller but no less significant number are out there living and changing lives, exploring the world, conquering boundaries and essentially living larger than life. It’s quite mind blowing to think of two possible outcomes, at 23: doing the “right thing”, figuring out your career path, worrying about the myriad troubles of uni/work life and all that it brings, concentrating on building the foundations of social/financial/familial security. Some are engaged in the search for higher meaning, the search for self and individuality, and that in itself is a laudable endevour.
On the other hand, there are those who seek to let the world leave an imprint on their soul, who might be at work or in uni, might be engaging in all the activities that others are doing, just differently. Those who strive for a passion or goal or dream, and who touch lives in the process. Not an easy difference to put to words, just a quality of otherness, that over-arcing presence of being more than you are, or have told to be. They may not need to quest to find who they are, they just are. They don’t have to be Olympic athletes or Edmund Hillarys or Albert Einstiens. They just have a larger and grander scheme of things than most, and they let their souls dance to the music that they hear. From missionary work in Thailand to chasing photographs in lands quite different from small town America, these friends have dreams that are writ large in their destinies, and seem so much wiser than their years.
That is the real question; two twentysomethings, same set of opportunities and environments, but a world of difference in what they do with it. I’m not putting either path down, I just think that sometimes, don’t you want to know what’s on the other side of that door/fence/horizon? And I envy those who don’t let themselves get caught up the in the mundaneness of everyday living, and go and find out.
disclaimer: it’s quite a meandering blog post, and i don’t really know what i’m on about myself. I’m just a little wistful at the moment, and all the responses to certain events in my life have kinda crystallized into a musing on life and what it means to live it, and age and what it means to feel/act it. I’m sorry if it offends/upsets anyone.