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Time flies... and growing up sucks, doesn't it?

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E

Etrian Oddity

Member
Okay, so growing up doesn't really suck, but the thread about your days in college really made me realize how quickly these past three years of my life have flown by. It also made me remember, as I reflected over the mostly care-free days, how life only gets harder and more complicated as you get older.

There's a funny website called Post Grad Problems that puts a humorous spin on how real working life is different from cozy college kid life (something I thought I knew beforehand, but didn't truly understand until now). I find the site puts post-graduate life into perspective quite perfectly.

I've been promoted twice within the past three months at the job I love, and I at least have a stable (entry-level) salary. I know what I put myself into, and I'm not necessarily whining. Still, living without a roommate combined with the social life-killing hours of my field can lead to srs loneliness and/or isolation. That's just a lil' example of how things have changed from not even a year ago, where I could text my friends to meet up at the river or grab some grub. Or how you hear particular songs from phases in your life, and immediately recollect all the amazing memories you associate with those songs. (Etc.)

It's 2am and I'm rambling here, but when did other folks realize that life as they knew it completely changed once they left college or left home? Also, maybe some of the older Gaffers can post words of wisdom of how to cope with life's rigors and keep trucking.
 
T

TFlat

Member
Kind of the opposite for me really, time flew by at college/university but now the last two years after starting work have been slow as shit. Hell, getting to 5.30pm every day feels like an eternity.
 
S

Slavik81

Member
I already hate this site. The have an article promoting the escalation of the ridiculous engagement ring tradition by adding an additional tradition that the woman give a ridiculously expensive watch to the guy.

The only thing worse was their follow up article. Another writer wrote a rebuttal that argued that relationships shouldn't be predicated on kindness and reciprocation, but rather on selfless devotion. Therefore, the guy should just give the girl a ridiculously expensive ring.

I propose instead that upon engagement, both partners contribute to a 'love bonfire' to commemorate their upcoming marriage. Both contribute equally, but neither receives anything in return. They each simply burn a 10k worth of hundred dollar bills as proof of their love and commitment.

And the other articles don't even look any better...
 
E

Etrian Oddity

Member
Slavik81 said:
I already hate this site. The have an article promoting the escalation of the ridiculous engagement ring tradition by adding an additional tradition that the woman give a ridiculously expensive watch to the guy.

The only thing worse was their follow up article. Another writer wrote a rebuttal that argued that relationships shouldn't be predicated on kindness and reciprocation, but rather on selfless devotion. Therefore, the guy should just give the girl a ridiculously expensive ring.

I propose instead that upon engagement, both partners contribute to a 'love bonfire' to commemorate their upcoming marriage. Both contribute equally, but neither receives anything in return. They each simply burn a 10k worth of hundred dollar bills as proof of their love and commitment.

And the other articles don't even look any better...
Click to expand...
Hahaha, bear in mind this is from former dudebro-style fraternity men and sorority women. (It's a subsite of Total Frat Move, a rather juvenile albeit funny site.)
jb1234 said:
It really starts to move once you hit your 30s.
Click to expand...
i'm five and a half years away from thirty and i'm already scared :(
 
S

Scrow

Still Tagged Accordingly
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.

Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say.

Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
And when I come home cold and tired
Its good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells.
 
K

killertofu

Member
Just turned 23 and I feel like I want time to slow down.

When I was a teenager I wanted time to speed up so I could be on my own and etc etc. Be away from my parents. Be away from dumb school work.

But now I just want to go back.
 
J

JimmyRustler

Gold Member
“Man surprised me most about humanity.Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

Supposed to be from the Dalai Lama.

It could not be more true. Just enjoy your time and don't worry.
 
R

Roland Deschain

Member
Growing up sucks? What?
You start making money, you live on your own, start a family, keep playing video games, ... I'm 34 now and life's never been better. Sure as hell a lot better than when I was still going to school or living at home.
 
D

dejay

Banned
Baraka in the White House said:
Nah. Childhood felt slow because for the most part it sucked and WAS slow.
Click to expand...

My theory is that the longer you live, the shorter in proportion a year is compared to the rest of your life, so the shorter a year seems.

When you're 15, a year is like 7% of your life. It's a significant chunk, especially considering you don't remember most of your early childhood.

Also, seasons get predictable. You have learned from experience what a year feels like. You anticipate the weather, you anticipate events and without surprise there is little to mark time.
 
N

NathanMcMahon

Banned
dejay said:
My theory is that the longer you live, the shorter in proportion a year is compared to the rest of your life, so the shorter a year seems.

When you're 15, a year is like 7% of your life. It's a significant chunk, especially considering you don't remember most of your early childhood.

Also, seasons get predictable. You have learned from experience what a year feels like. You anticipate the weather, you anticipate events and without surprise there is little to mark time.
Click to expand...

this. we measure time by our experience with it. the more experience the faster it goes. crazy phenomenon.
 
N

Newline

Member
You will grow out of that mindset. When you are young you have little or no impact on the world. I'm looking forward to contributing to the world I live in now.
 
J

JimmyRustler

Gold Member
NathanMcMahon said:
this. we measure time by our experience with it. the more experience the faster it goes. crazy phenomenon.
Click to expand...
Not entirely true. Time flies by these days because there is no real boredom any more. My grandma said it's become crazy in the past 10 years but before that she never had that feeling - and she was already over 50 in the 90s.

Now take a guess what happend around 10 years ago.
 
Dice

Dice

Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
Growing up has been the best thing that ever happened to me.
 
A

Always-honest

Banned
Yeah and it seems to go faster when you get older.
I don't miss college days though. But i'd like to be between 35 and 40 till the day i die...
 
S

Seth C

Member
We just keep spinning around the sun at 67,000mph. Just think, you may do that 90 times in your life. That's 500 billion miles.
 
K

KuroNeeko

Member
Just wait until you have children.

The older you get, the more you realize how little you know...and that's OK.

Always-honest said:
Yeah and it seems to go faster when you get older.
I don't miss college days though. But i'd like to be between 35 and 40 till the day i die...
Click to expand...

This sounds like a real, monkey paw wish right here.
 
F

Fallout-NL

Member
TheExorzist said:
“Man surprised me most about humanity.Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

Supposed to be from the Dalai Lama.

It could not be more true. Just enjoy your time and don't worry.
Click to expand...


Yeah, really goddamn difficult though.
 
T

The Mana Legend

Banned
The important thing about growing up is to keep things fresh. Don't get stuck in some shitty pattern for 50 years. Change things up, have things to look forward to, etc.

And never feel like you're "too old" for something. Just enjoy whatever you want.
 
P

PKrockin

Member
Well, it started for me right when I left college. Those two years I regularly worked 80 hours a week were a complete blur. It pissed me off when my birthday rolled around because it reminded me how almost nothing had changed in my life besides having money. Now that I won't have to work quite so much I hope I can smell the roses a little and be productive outside of my job.

/blog gaf
 
H

Horseticuffs

Full werewolf off the buckle
Life is a funny old bird. If you think about the temporal nature of it all sometimes it makes it seem utterly pointless and hopeless. Then you step outside and nature strikes you in just such a way, or you fall in love, or some other wonderful thing happens, and you feel as if some boundless treasure trove of meaning has exploded in your face.


In most circumstances it's entirely likely that your reality hasn't changed one bit, but rather your perspective. I'm 34 and experienced some set-backs and some real triumphs these past few years. A lot of folks in my shoes would probably feel like the biggest fucking loser in the world, and more often than not I do. Some days I wake up feeling like the coolest dude ever.There's largely no rhyme or reason, it's all just the game of ego.

The only thing I've learned for sure in life is that it ends eventually :)
 
T

teruterubozu

Member
Post-grad life is stressful but life actually gets easier in some ways. When you're in your early 20s your mind doesn't shut the fuck up about the overwhelming THING CALLED LIFE. That quarter-life existential crisis begins to fade away and to some degree, you start going into autopilot as you get older. Relish the time of those great questions, because soon you won't have time or the urge to reflect on life's great mysteries like you did in your whimsical days of youth.
 
N

Nexus Zero

Member
without surprise there is little to mark time
Click to expand...

This is so true. The first week at a job is the longest. I always liken it to a night out. I could be at a nightclub like Fabric just dancing until 6am and think oh wow where did that go. Or I could be at a festival having an adventure and it's just 3am and I'm stuck in a bush thinking how the fuck am I going to last another hour. You know.
 
F

faridmon

Member
Yeah. It was just yesterday when I entered the Uni for the first time, and all of the sudden I am back at my parents looking for a job. Yes, growing up sucks.
 
B

Bodacious

Banned
Growing up doesn't suck, but the loss of the past sure does. Started suffering some serious Uncle Rico's syndrome after 40. If I could only get back to '82.
 
M

megashock5

Member
ElbowRocket said:
Time does seem to run faster as you get older...
Click to expand...


It's insane. The first 21 years of my life took way longer than the second 21 years.

But it hit me one day...

When you're two days old, that second day is 1/2 of your life.

When you turn one, that day is 1/365 of your life.

Earlier this year, when I turned 42, that day was 1/15,330 of my life.

Although most of it is the fact that I'm way busier now than when I was a kid, the fact that every day is a smaller fraction of your overall life is pretty wild to think about.


Bodacious said:
Growing up doesn't suck, but the loss of the past sure does.
Click to expand...

Seriously, that's what hurts. I don't even really need a time machine, I don't want to go back so much as revisit from time to time. What I really need is Dumbledore's Pensive.
 
K

kirby_fox

Banned
I realized time flies about 30 minutes ago. Our pet parakeet passed away this morning. It felt like we didn't even have her that long.

It was 3 1/2 years. Right before I graduated from college. 3 years ago I graduated from college with a bachelors degree. My last serious relationship was 3 years ago. I left my job of 5 years, 3 years ago. My brother and me drove to New York 3 years ago. I lost majority of my college friends 3 years ago. My friend who just broke off her engagement started dating the guy 3 years ago.

And it honestly seems like all of that wasn't that long ago. So yeah, time flies.
 
N

nullset2

Junior Member
Dude, growing up is amazing. I have a better body, more confidence, more money, savings, better habits, a kickass carreer, I'm one year away from graduating, and it's only gonna get better. I'm finally achieving a healthy, nice social life, compared to my something-teens where it was all vidya and call centers and books, I'm looking forward to amazing stuff for the remainder of my 20's, compared to LOTS of my highschool buddies, who are rotting away at a job they took up to feed some child they now have living with some woman they are tied to at 22. I'm looking forward to hookups, exercise, new jobs, writing a book, getting a cool home some day. So it's only gonna get better!

Sure, the inevitability of death and the passing of time kinda suck when you reflect on it, but it really depends on perspective, you see.
 
B

Bisnic

Really Really Exciting Member!
I'm going to be 30 in a few months and i hate it. I feel old, hell, there is even some gray hair starting to show up, and I feel like my life is just beginning now since i just got a girlfriend who's just like me and think i could spend the rest of my days with.

Sometimes, i wish i was living in the future where scientists found some way to stop or slow down the aging process, so i would stop thinking "Oh in 20-30 years, i won't be the same young man full of energy that i am right now. I'll be old, look like a grandpa, and might have a bunch of health problems if I'm not careful(or lucky)." Bleh.

Growing up is fine and nice, i just wish it would stop at 25-30. :p
 
Slayer-33

Slayer-33

Liverpool-2
It's also funny how when you get older people are out for your money, even indirectly. It's fucking crazy

I get that feeling more often now than ever before.

GlamFM said:
Get a kid. Time will move slower again.
Click to expand...

No way LOL. I don't even have one and I can bet that it'll be the opposite of that.
 
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