I'm going to take you guys on a bit of journey. Remember back, way way back when we were all in college? Ok. Now. Remember how much fun we all had in school, when we would read books (for fun!), enjoy the beautiful seasons(spring, fall, deep winter and little winter) in Spokane and taking advantage of the time in school to learn all we could, to hang out with our friends and to have zany adventures. College was fun.
Then came senior year. All those questions began popping up. Should we go to grad school? Should we take a year off? Where should we work? Should we go home, or go adventuring? These questions plauged me, at least. After very tear-filled week, I decided to take a year off to decide what to go to grad school for.
The rest, if you have been talking to me or at the very least following my blog, is history. I was in South Dakota (the Black Hills) working in the more traditional museum setting, and now I'm working as an education coordinator and a sailor on a traditional tallship (she's a topsail ketch and it's one of the coolest jobs ever).
The thought behind this post is the idea that after a time, there is a pressure to grow up. I'm lucky in that I have awesome parents, but there is a lot of pressure in society today to stop being kids and to be grownups.
Not that that's a bad thing, it's good to realize that there are things that I need to do, like be able to pay my bills, to take care of myself, and to be able to take care of any plants or fish that I might own.
There are three tracks, I think, that life can take once we all leave the nice cozy place that is college and our very early 20s.
First. We can catch 9 to 5 Stick-in-the-Mud Syndrome. This involves throwing ourselves into being mature, responsible adults who never have fun because that's how we think it should be-working a 9 to 5 job that we think we might hate but that pays well, but never letting ourselves be silly.
Let's be real. Who would do that? I'm sure there are some people who would, but I sure wouldn't. If I had a job that I hated, I would sure find times to have fun and off-set that grossness.
Second. We can subcumb to the Peter Pan Syndrome. Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up, who ducked responsibility and flew away to Never Never Land where he could stay a kid forever.
Again, really? I can kind of see the appeal, I mean, I work on a tallship and my other dream jobs include archaeologist and National Geographic Reporter/Archaeologist, so it's not like I'm going to be a mature adult, but I know that I have responsibilities and that I have to make these things happen. This leads into the third option.
Third. We can become responsible, mature adults, but remember how to have fun. Remember how to be ourselves and not get lost in the 9 to 5 days. I don't know about you, but my parents are awesome and I never feel like they are trapped in their jobs. They have fun. They're funny.
That's the kind of adult I want to be, one who knows when it's time to be fun, when it's time to be serious, and when it's possible, okay and even the best thing to be both serious and a goofball.
Sometimes, I think we need to hold onto to being a kid. Liking animation, listening to Raffi and reading books written for younger people (I love Rick Riordan's books and Suzanne Collins' Gregor the Overlander series).
Did I say sometimes? I mean always.
I feel like it's important for my own mental health to keep my inner child happy, to find the balance between my poised and mature self and my inner goofball who still loves Disney movies.
And I'm good with that. To quote Lady Gaga, I was born that way, and God makes no mistakes (well, duh :)).
Note-No Tolkien! Lame. I need to work him in here a little better. I'm working on it :)
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