聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 鈥淪o, what's new with you?鈥� It's an easy question, but basically whenever my friends ask me I have to say 鈥淣othing much, I basically just work and coach volleyball.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Having said that, I could talk to them for hours about my work or volleyball. They know that's where my passions are and though I assume they could potentially get annoyed about me going on and on about how awesome these kids are or how quickly they pick-up on stuff, they listen.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I'll tell them about different things that happen with work, such as the wild boar research project or share with them other articles like the one on War Brides last year.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 When I ask them what's new, well usually I get the same kind of answers actually, but for a couple from Calgary instead of work and volleyball, it's their work and soccer. This was actually a conversation we had just the other day, and we managed to talk about our 鈥渘othing much's鈥� for an hour and a half.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Though we laughed about being boring, talking about the sports we coach, the kids in the programs, and our work. One of my friends I talked to is a Nestle rep and the other is a preschool teacher, so there are always fun stories about one being on the road and the other has awesome stories about how intelligent the kids are she coaches.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In addition to what we decided was our boring talk we also laughed about how we must finally be adults.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 I remember talking in a history class in university about how the different stages in life have changed. It used to be you were a baby, a kid, a teen, an adult; but, we also discussed how today that transition between teenager and adult has developed into another stage.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 We discussed what being an adult meant socially and determined that many people in university, in that transition from high school to their first or second years especially were not actually adults in the true sense of the word.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Now I don't even really remember what it was we used to talk about in school... probably some existential conversation about a theory from class or what we'd been up to for the summer. Random funny stories from when we were little and then back to all the work we each had to do in our classes. We'd talk about what we were studying and why it was meaningful.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Ultimately being an adult means being responsible for yourself and being able to make decisions. You rely on yourself more and on your parents less, though they鈥檒l always be there for you. It means that work is a large part of your life because money is more important than it once was as you have to pay rent, save for a house, and buy the groceries.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 You have to be an upstanding member of society and contribute to your community in various ways.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 At times I still don鈥檛 feel like an adult, but I know that in today鈥檚 standards I am. But the idea of only being as old as you feel is definitely a reality because I don鈥檛 feel 26, yet that鈥檚 what I am now, I feel like I鈥檓 still in my early 20s. It鈥檚 weird to think about, but I suppose time is all relative and can be construed differently.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 For example when we鈥檙e born we are zero years old, it鈥檚 not until our first birthday that we become one. In other societies though you are considered one-year-old when you are born because you are in your first year of life.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 So, age and time can be construed differently and I think that鈥檚 why it can be so hard to act your age or not feel a different age than you actually are because it would seem age is what we make it.
