Friday, June 28, 2013

Idealism And Adulthood




Youth represents a lot of things to different people. One's definition of youth may also varies. For some people, youth ends the minute they graduated from university. For some people, youth ends when they start putting on their formal shoes and blazers every morning, slaving away from nine to five. I was (am) somewhat a bit of 'late bloomer' and didn't really come into my own until my early 20's. I feel like this occurrence has extended my youth period and I didn't really consider myself as an adult until I was twenty-five. 

My college and post-college years was crucial to me as it was the time where I was molding myself into a person i would like to become. I started writing my own blog, started going regularly to music shows, started exploring different ideas and asking questions to everything.  My idealisms were soaring high during this period, and I felt like I was strong enough to take on the world and its corruptness and hypocrisies. 

THE question is whether it is possible to actually sustain this idealism all the way through adulthood with its growing demands of responsibility and the unavoidable pressure of 'making something for oneself'. The answer is yes and no. While some people would conveniently point out that we let go of our idealisms and conform to what is deemed acceptable in society as we grow up, I feel like it is more of a matter of picking your battles and re-evaluate your priorities in life.

As we face obstacles and hurdles that life throw at us, our brains are constantly sorting out these things, weighing out the benefits of these idealisms and trying to decide whether they are worth holding onto. The ideas you feel strongly about will prevail and strengthen your beliefs on them. Others might have to take a back seat and go through a bit of compromising.

I believe this is a natural, necessary process and thus we shouldn't be afraid of changes. It is hard sometimes to let go some of our beliefs because of what they represent -moments in our lives when we were young and invincible- .But life is a learning process that never ends, and we have to keep rolling with the punches as they come. Besides, how would you know the depth of your beliefs if they have never been tested?