Inspired by the new show coming out on TNT, Men of a Certain Age, and a conversation I had the other night, I spent some time thinking about what the future holds. Gone are the easily staked-out milestones in one's life - those that are scripted out by the various levels of academia. Ahead of me are the life events that will define me - marriage, children, and somewhere down the road, long after the Social Security benefits I pay for now are no longer there for me, retirement. It's easy to say I shouldn't be thinking about these things at this point in my life. I'm pretty damn young (2 months shy of 24), and no rosy youthfulness should be prematurely grayed by the cloudiness of the ever-distant future. Time flies fast, though. I've been at my current job, including training, for nearly 18 months now. Graduation, come this May, will be 2 years in the past. It's amplified by the fact that my memories now extend much further back than they did when I was younger. Bill Clinton was elected president 17 freakin' years ago, and it still seems like yesterday that he was in the Oval Office doing who knows what with whom.
The flip side is that the drinking/partying mentality of most 20-something-year-olds doesn't interest me. Getting plastered for the majority of the weekend isn't an attractive option. I don't have my college-level tolerance, and for my long-term health I figure I can outlive most of my peers simply by imbibing far less than they do at this age. It's also a pretty expensive habit to keep up on in New York. Once in a while I like having that kind of fun, but I get much more utility on a regular basis from doing other activities...like reading a book, for example.
So what next? I think the most interesting - and the most rewarding - parts of my life are yet to come. Perhaps it's strange, but I am deeply fascinated by the person I will be down the road, and the people my friends, colleagues, and acquaintances will in the future. Writing these next chapters of my life - the ones that will take me from being a fresh young professional straight out of college to being _____ 10 years down the road - will be the ones that define myself for most, if not the rest, of my years.
Here's to the decade that was, and here's to the decade that will be.
