About that growing up thing...

[johnpalmer]

There was a common enough meme among people I knew and loved about not wanting to grow up, and it always bugged me on an irrational level.

Today, I realized I had the perfect example.

I've gotten on the internet and read e-mail and checked Livejournal. While doing that, I've done my 10 (well, 12) minutes of morning exercises. (I've been working out in the evenings mostly, but it's been a long term goal to exercise enough in the morning that my evening workouts are for strengthening, not avoiding stagnation. 10 minutes is a good start, but eventually I'll work up to 20.) While doing that, I've been cooking a ham and egg bagel sandwich, with a bagel from Grateful Bread, which I had to find, and plan for, so that I'd have it available. (Seattle, alas, is not known for good bagels.) While doing all of this, I've been making and drinking coffee made from beans I roasted yesterday, just so I could have fresh roasted coffee this morning. (And, note, I had to decide coffee was important enough for me to plan to have a roaster, and learn to use it.)

By learning to exercise better and more carefully, I've been able to find a workout point that leaves me feeling good, and to realize how important it is not to go past that point in the early morning.

By learning to time my cooking, I could have my ham almost ready at the end of my workout. (Gee, it needed just about the time it takes to toast a bagel....)

In short, through planning, and decision making, and the ability to carry out those plans with maturity, I'm having a wonderful start to a wonderful day.

There's nothing wrong with holding on to the joy and wonder of childhood... I've always felt very strongly about that. But I've also felt very strongly that one should also accept happily the joys (and yes, responsibilities) of adulthood.

Comments

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

A ten-minute workout sounds like a wonderful thing. What does yours consist of?

Adulthood has a lot of privileges, including indulging one's inner child on a grander scale. (I'll never forget the time I went into a variety store with a 12-year-old and we bought their ENTIRE STOCK of Star Wars bubble gum with cards so that we could settle down to do some serious trading.)

[lolleeroberts.livejournal.com]

When I was a child I was at the mercy of others, mostly adults, who were not kind to me. I couldn't wait to grow up so I could be self-sufficient. The joy of sitting at a table in a home you pay for yourself, eating food you prepare yourself, that's to your taste, and at a time you choose, without being screamed at or humiliated or physically assaulted...being a grown-up is pretty cool.

[jilesa.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES.

I find it baffling-- and occasionally annoying-- when people use 'being a grown-up' to mean dull or boring, or to indicate otherwise undesirable traits. I think this is largely because I had a relatively miserable childhood and a comparatively happy adulthood, and I try to remind myself frequently that my experience differs greatly from the norm here. But it still baffles me. :)

[wcg.livejournal.com]

We are in violent agreement John!

[anansi133.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, that sure resonates with me!

The version of that meme I most detest, is the idea that work is expected to be an unpleasant activity, which is why they pay us to do it. If it were fun, then we'd be doing it for free.

The time we collectively spend enjoying the joys of adulthood seems dwarfed by the time we collectively spend engaged in childish passive-aggression.

When I was really a kid, I would have been gobsmacked by how little consensus there really is about the meaning of that word, "adulthood".

[laurarey.livejournal.com]

Yep. Miss Meeps has introduced me to a whole new meaning of adult responsibility and also of joy and wonder.

Of course, that doesn't mean that Peck and I don't have our moments of juvenile humour and laughter. Two nights ago we were giving her a bath, and she started passing gas under the water. We giggled ourselves silly at the expression on her face as bubbles came out of her bum in the water.

Then, she pooped and we weren't the ones laughing anymore. She thought that was great fun.

[sueschus.livejournal.com]

My 4-year-old granddaughter was here today. She's mentioned more than once that she doesn't want to grow up. At one point today she said, "Some days I want to be 10 and some days I don't." We spent the afternoon clearing out a closet for coming guests with breaks for reading silly books and looking at her mommy and daddy's wedding photos and cleaning up my very old (but not grown up) baby doll and trying on a dress my mother made for me when I was 4 years old. It was a 'slow-up' day.