In my writers group this past Monday night, we were posed this writing prompt question: How differently do you look at life now compared to when you were 20? This was my repsonse.
When I was 20 years old, life hadn’t seemed to fly by so quickly. When I hit 22, the years following have seemed to go by much quicker. With the seemingly faster years, I feel the constant urge to accomplish by learning or doing. I have more of a self-awareness now than when I did freshly coming out of my teenage years. There is the constant acknowledgement that the day or week or month has passed. I even have become more conscientious of the hours that pass.
Going back fifteen years when I was 20, it’s hard to say precisely how I felt about time. It seemed I was focused more on college and what the future would bring, rather than the present and how it would create the future.
AN APPRECIATION FOR LIFE LIVED
I simply have a greater appreciation of time overall. In that, I have a greater appreciation for people, specifically older people who have experienced masses amounts of time that shadow over mine. I find myself listening more intently to them, or at least I try to. I have, however, found older people who seem to have learned very little in life or garnered very little wisdom. I find it disturbing to know that 50, 60, 70, even 80 years can pass by, and very little can come of it. I’m not pointing toward accomplishments, like awards and certificates. Those are fine, but those pale in comparison to someone who can genuinely speak to me in persuasive and convicted voice about how life is. About what they learned. About what they are trying to teach me.
I hope in 15 years, I’ll have grown exponentially. I hope that my mind will be significantly broader. I hope that I will have accumulated knowledge and wisdom that will do others good. In that regard, that is the pivotal part of what I am discovering. My personal growth isn’t exactly personal. It’s something to be given. Not kept.