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Last night I found myself at the local pool bar. At the table were three of my friends. We were laughing, having good conversations, and eating and drinking. As we were preparing to end the night we began talking about what we should do the next time we hang out. The idea was to see the new Ralph Breaks the Internet movie. I immediately said no!
If you watch the trailer for the film, I do not doubt that you will like it. It seems pretty entertaining. Despite actually enjoying the trailer, I said no when asked if I wanted to see it. Why? Because I felt it would make us look immature if we did. I believed we were too old to go and see a PG movie.
There are two things I wish I could go back and do to myself — 1) punch myself in the face and 2) stop letting other people’s idea of maturity affect how I live my life.
Why is it that as we age, we tend to stop prioritizing fun?
If you are a fully functioning adult, meaning you have a job, pay your bills, and take care of yourself, why start denying the things you find fun? Do not get me wrong, obviously, there are certain things that we should stop doing as we age. However, I’m not talking about those things. I’m talking about things that don’t have an age limit — movies, video games, and board games to name a few.
Part of how I judge my life is by how much fun I’m having on a week to week basis.
If I’m having fun, I laugh. If I laugh, I smile. If I’m smiling, it’s because I’m happy! Whenever I’m out with my friends, and we just let loose and have fun like we did when we were younger, I usually find myself damn near in tears from laughing so hard.
Our interests and hobbies are open to change from time to time. I’m not arguing that you should play videos games or see animated movies if you are no longer interested in those things. What I’m suggesting is you shouldn’t stop doing fun things (fun things that have no age limit) because of your age.
If you find yourself turning down an opportunity to go do something fun because it’s not something a “mature” person should do, do it anyways!
Stress is a part of life. As we get older coping with stress becomes a lot harder. Part of that, in my opinion, comes from the fact that we feel we must stop having fun as we age. As we age we’re expected to go to college, graduate, get a job, start a family, and retire.
Anyone who still plays video games in his late 30s or 40s is viewed as an “immature” person. Why? As I mentioned before if someone is a fully functioning adult, why isn’t that okay? I could understand if someone had no job, no degree, and still lived with their parents. Yeah, that person needs to grow up! But what if you have a great career, live independently, and take care of yourself (i.e., exercise and eat right)? Why do you have to stop doing the things you enjoy?
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Photo by Krists Luhaers on Unsplash
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