Turning 25.
What’s up with the big number?
As a 10 year old kid, I used to look at my 25 year old cousins and wonder how amazing they were. Living on their own, cooking for themselves, going on trips, getting acknowledged for being good sons and what not!
Today, as a 25 year old, I wonder what kids think about me? Do they see me exactly how I used to look at my cousins? Is adulting glorified? Has access to internet made todays kids smart enough to understand what a 25 year old really feels? Do I now qualify to be called an Uncle? And, Is everyone decepted about adulting?
These are some questions that intrigue me. They make me want to reflect on my growing years. They make me want to write how I look at myself for the next 25 years.
The last quarter century has been a good journey. Of course there’s been some traumas that I’d want to write on some other day, but nevertheless, as a 25 year old today, I understand they’ve shaped me as the person that I am.
Growing up in a well off family has been a privilege, and I am forever thankful for that. Recieving good education has been another privilege, and I know that it will always keep paying me back.
But what I really want to talk to you about is the way people get conditioned during their growing up years! As kids, most of us have lived around a certain type of people. We’ve all seen uncles reading newspapers early in the morning, dressed up in their pajamas, talking about a neighbour’s kid going off the track. The track thats defined by them. The track that everyone has to follow.
We’ve seen mothers teach their daughters dress up a certain way. To act a certain way and to walk and talk a certain way. We’ve seen uncles and aunties discuss their kids and the kid’s future at weddings, tieing them up in pairs, thinking about how good a match they can make.
As kids, looking at these practices makes you believe in them. You start wondering if that is the only correct way to be. You develop the muscle memory to be a part of the culture. Growing up in a society with less diversity, you create a bias that makes you want to fit in.
You find your comfort zone in 25 years of your existence. You stop looking at everyone else’s 25 years of being.
Its in these situations that I want adulting to be a good experience. I want it to help us understand diversity in its true sense. I want it to help us explore people, careers, food and lifestyles. I want us to develop an inherent acceptance to difference. Difference in culture, difference in belief, difference in faith.
Growing up into a 25 year old does not necessarily have to be an individual activity. It has to be a part of your ecosystem. An ecosystem that lets you be someone else. Someone who’s grown into a beautiful being. Someone who’s more mature and accepting of others. Someone who’s more aware of themselves and their biases.
The next 25 years have to be better. They have to be about happiness. About the act of prioritizing yourself over societal and cultural barriers. They have to be about keeping up with the good things in the world.
As we grow, responsibilites change. Priorities change. What remains is you and your image of you. The next 25 years have to be beautiful. They’ve to be about change and acceptance, and I wish all the best to all of us.
