Blast From The Past – When You’re Young

When you are surrounded by only young people for a while you start thinking about how it was when you were young. What ideas, visions, dreams, plans you had and maybe also how clueless you were. I experience youth on a daily base at the moment, being surrounded by a team of “kids” who are no longer kids. I admire their energy, their drive, their “innocence” and maybe even their “clueless-ness”. All of them are at a point in their life where they merge from being still sort of kids to being adults, still wild, still having that ease but also merging into this next stage where a little bit more maturity will kick in. That stage where you slowly start to center a little bit more.

I’d like to share some thoughts once more about how life is when you are young. And as always it would be great to hear your take on it 😉

When you’re young, you’re not afraid of what comes next, you’re excited by it! – David Grohl

Credit: viernesvintage.wordpress.com

A strong statement by a strong singer. When I first heard it while watching “Sound City” I agreed a lot with that statement. Don’t you think it’s true too? When you are young you’re not really afraid of your future. Or at least it used to be the case when I was young.

You feel like you have everything lying out in front of you waiting for you to be ready to take the challenge. You don’t worry about the future that much, you feel challenged by it. You think you can do it all.

At one point though reality hits. You grow up. Maybe that’s what’s growing up is all about… You lose that innocence. I wonder if it is then when we start thinking too much about the past and worrying to much about the future. I wonder if we forget living in the presence the moment we “grow up”. Because I think that’s actually what Grohl is talking about. I wish I could ask him…

When you’re young you’re not afraid of what comes next. You don’t worry about the future. You are excited about every little step you take and you probably live in the now much more.

Why do we change? What is it makes us hang on to the past and worry about the future? Is it society that teaches us to work for a better future? Is it the fact that we might be in a relationship and feel responsible to build a solid base for a future family? Is it having kids and worrying about not being able to provide them with the best possible future?

But don’t we mess up our present by letting our worries take over? Can we be a good member of society if we are constantly worried? Can we be a good partner if we forget to cherish the moment and not suddenly become a burden because we are so filled up with our thoughts about what might be? Can we be a good parent if we don’t have time to spend with our children just so we can make sure they will have an easy start into their adult life? How can we possibly now they will?

Funny how I stumbled across this post just now again. Interesting that I keep coming back to the past, presence and future theme.

And then there’s that passage in the Bible. Probably the only one I remember and always will remember: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children…”

Maybe we should focus on becoming more like little children. Cherish every moment, find something beautiful in everything. Look at things through their eyes and suddenly see the beauty again. And not worry about what might be. Be sad about what makes you sad right now. And not what might have years ago.