As kids you know one thing for certain: Your parents know
everything. They have life figured out, are basically the most responsible
human beings on the planet – and will likely one day bequeath the handbook of
life to you, most likely somewhere around the age of 20.
Let’s face it – if we as kids had any inkling to how much
our parents were winging it, struggling to make ends meet (sidebar: when I hear
this phrase I hear it as “ends meat” and imagine it being some sort of bargain
meat people need to feed their family when funds are tight) or just making up
bullshit answers to our questions in general – our little worlds would spin off
into chaos.
We grow up thinking that we’ll go to school, maybe go to
university or college, then immediately get a decent job that will allow us to
move out from under the umbrella of our parents, and then we will find someone
to spend our lives with and pump out some children of our own. Okay while the
plan may differ from person to person you get what I’m saying. At some point
you go from being a kid who has no idea which end is up to suddenly having your
life together.
Well imagine the surprise that every upper middle class
20-something gets smacked with when you realize that there IS no manual, and
being an “adult” is just a series of haphazard decisions made that sometimes
result in some harsh life lessons.
The fact of the matter is no one has a clue what they’re
doing. Your parents always seem to have the answers strictly because they have
25+ years of life experience on you – they’ve lived to make mistakes – and to
learn from them. My advice to kids in high school is always “give your parents
some credit – they usually know what they’re talking about” I know I personally
have thought “I should have just listened to my parents” on more than one
occasion.
On the same note – they’re people too. They’re not superheroes.
They get scared and overwhelmed just as much as you or I do. They’re just doing
their best, that’s all they’ve ever done.
As someone who is now of “adulating” age and now on the other side of
the childhood spectrum – I see all my friends with kids just trying to do their
best on a daily basis. Some days that’s a little more and some it’s a little
less. In 20 years their children won’t remember the days when it was a little
less, but they will remember feeling loved and secure.
As per usual my post has spun off into a completely new
direction but I’m going to try to get back to the point. My point.
My point is – as a twenty-something, HECK, THIRTY-SOMETHING you
do NOT have to have it all figured out. At some point you need to let go of
that insane idea you had as a child that because your parents may or may not
have “had their act together” (I can almost promise you they didn’t) that you have
to. It will NEVER be too late to change your path in life because things aren’t
what you want. Maybe we would all have a little less grey hair if we didn’t put
a deadline on life. (jk – I like my
silver strands – and who doesn’t love a silver fox)
