All who wander...
I occurred to me yesterday morning that this small country town I have lived in for the last 3 months represents the longest period of consecutive time I have stayed in one place in the past two years. It looks like I will be moving again in another two months. I knew I have been rather transient over the last little while, but two years is a fairly long time. I have plans for more wandering over the next 2-3 years, and probably will keep going for alot long after that. So this realisation in particular, that I really haven't been tied down to any one place, has been a surprise, but a good one.
Right now I seem to have heaps of friends who are doing the whole settle down, regular job, regular partner, regular house, owning a mortgage, marriage, commitment, breeding etc. Which is in part an age thing, I hit a quarter of a century in seven weeks and most people do those sorts of stable things when they get to mid-20's and 30's. Of course because I'm not doing that, because I am not settled, I often feel looked down on, it's as if the collective mind is "You will be in a stable relationship and it will last for years", "You will produce more screaming neglected children the world cannot cope with", "You will buy a house and stay in the one place for ever", "You will buy as many material goods as you can max out your credit card" and because I don't fit into this nice little box then I clearly am a bad person not worthy of the time and space of others.
And I know that if I actually want to do these sorts of things now is a good time to start, from here on in my fertility will be decreasing, I need to get alot more experience for promotions and work, I need to sort out some extra education if I want to broaden my job prospects, I need to buy a house now because the market is only going to increase and it's going to take forever to pay off anyway. So yes I am immature and need to grow up. But only if we go by what the rest of society says, and when the hell was the last time I did that?
As they say, not all who wander are lost. And I have alot more wandering to do in this life.
Right now I seem to have heaps of friends who are doing the whole settle down, regular job, regular partner, regular house, owning a mortgage, marriage, commitment, breeding etc. Which is in part an age thing, I hit a quarter of a century in seven weeks and most people do those sorts of stable things when they get to mid-20's and 30's. Of course because I'm not doing that, because I am not settled, I often feel looked down on, it's as if the collective mind is "You will be in a stable relationship and it will last for years", "You will produce more screaming neglected children the world cannot cope with", "You will buy a house and stay in the one place for ever", "You will buy as many material goods as you can max out your credit card" and because I don't fit into this nice little box then I clearly am a bad person not worthy of the time and space of others.
And I know that if I actually want to do these sorts of things now is a good time to start, from here on in my fertility will be decreasing, I need to get alot more experience for promotions and work, I need to sort out some extra education if I want to broaden my job prospects, I need to buy a house now because the market is only going to increase and it's going to take forever to pay off anyway. So yes I am immature and need to grow up. But only if we go by what the rest of society says, and when the hell was the last time I did that?
As they say, not all who wander are lost. And I have alot more wandering to do in this life.
posted by moonbug @ Sunday, October 16, 2005
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