Enjoy Your Youth … oh, and life's a bummer.

I wrote this almost a year ago while listening to "Forever Young" and other classics The O.C. bestowed upon us. I then decided it was too much honesty, possibly sappy, and for fear that people would read and comment on it, I decided not to post it.

This, in a pistachio nutshell, is why I'm a lousy blogger. :P

Upon a second viewing, and with my 25th birthday coming up (IE, "quarter-of-a-century day"…hah…hah…hah…) I thought it might be worth sharing after all. But like my mom always said when I had to sample suspicious-looking food, "It's okay; you don't have to finish it." ;) 

Happy Day to you. :)

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There is this oft-repeated phrase which I believe is meant to be rallying, inspiring and exciting for my generation: “Enjoy your youth.”

what Em called my "Teen Fiction cover" photo lol

I have never found this phrase any of those things; I find it depressing. Believe me, I’ve tried to like it! It’s been the plotline of too many bright, indie-music-filled, teen-pitched movies and TV shows I enjoy for me to dismiss it outright. But to me, there is an unspoken follow-up sentence: “…while you can.”

You’re going to get old, these motivational speakers, bloggers and script-writers tell us in a stage whisper. It’s not going to be fun forever. One day, you will have to fight harder to be pretty, go to bed earlier to be rested and you will never be this skinny again. Your doctor (because not-young people have to go to doctors practically every week, it seems) will begin telling you how you have to lay off the coffee, eat more flax, try water aerobics (running is just killing that now-fragile cartilage in your knees) and that you must drink more water. …well okay, you’ve been hearing that one your entire life. lol

The worst part is, it’s true; we know we’re going to age. But when a well-meaning writer tells me to enjoy my youth, I can’t help thinking of two things: How I already regret being older than I was a year ago, and how much worse it will be when I’m looking on in envy upon the teens and 20’s living their young, enjoyable life while I cruise on through 30’s and 40’s, hoping I, too, did enough enjoying when I had the chance.

Now, if you believe, as I do, that God created us to find our satisfaction in Him, then you have to ask yourself: If the very process of progressing through this life, one year at a time, is so very disheartening for me, where have I gone wrong? The world is bursting with imperfection. But we have been “redeemed” in Christ (literally: “compensation for the faults or bad aspects of something”) so, in short, life with Him is not meant to be a bummer. Hard, but not a big disappointment.

Here’s a thought: “Enjoy your everything.”

The fact is, it’s easy to enjoy yourself when you’re young. As Selena Gomez put it, it comes naturally! You may find that it takes more effort to enjoy yourself as you get older (life gets busy, you get tired, responsibilities complicate things) but does that mean you missed the “loving this life” bus?

I’m not going to pretend this notion of “live life to its fullest” began with me. :P Throw a Jelly Belly (because they’re tasty) in any direction, and you will hit a song, movie, celebrity, book, or bumper sticker that already shared this concept. But often what they’re talking about is this kind of thing:

•        Go skydiving
•        Stay out all night with your friends
•        Date that person you like; take a chance!
•        Run down the beach while the sun sets, jumping up and down, making flying silhouettes (I blame this one on Pinterest…)
•        Learn a new language or instrument
•        Just pack your bags and GO somewhere!

All sounds like fun to me, and hey, if it’s on your bucket list, maybe you should consider getting it done! But notice how little room some of those things leave for being married, having little money, feeling exhausted most of the time or having a couple kids? Does that mean you’re living less because you can’t do those things?

It’s not an easy question; it frequently makes me anxious to think about how

Natty and me at the Disney Store ♥

my life might be a washed-out photograph in future years compared to the vibrant watercolor it is now. What if life just…isn’t as good later on?

But there’s so much more to life than the way you lived it at 20.

There’s other people, there’s pain and going through it together, there’s learning how to take care of yourself, there’s getting old with your friends, there’s discovering the confidence to recognize beauty that Hollywood can't market. There’s putting fear behind you because, that day you were dreading has arrived, and you’re still you and the life you lead continues to hold surprises. It’s actually being a better friend, it’s actually discovering sustaining joy in your life, it’s actually being more than you used to be…because God uses time and experience and growing to make those long sought-after things slowly appear.

There will always be someone younger than you. There will also always be someone older than you (unless you’re the 115-year-old lady in Japan, but she has her own bragging rights.) Age is relative and in the end, is it so very important?

I know that doesn’t feel true. Age has pretty much bothered us since we were kids in a hurry to grow up, teens eager to have the freedoms of childhood and adulthood at the same time, and all the way to adults who regret every day that they get further from “the good years.”

Oh, dear friends, every year is a good year in the best sense of the word when your life is about living and not about what you’ve left behind.

I’m pretty sure I don’t wake up believing this yet. But I think it’s true. And if it’s true, it’s gospel; it’s good news. So be encouraged. ♥