CECE SLADOVNIK/THE CREIGHTONIAN

The beginning of fall presents new colors and perspectives for everyone here on campus

Ever since high school, people have mistaken me for being older than I am. It became a point of pride. If I was more mature than my peers, then I was surely more prepared for the world ahead of me, more capable, wiser.  

Beyond the advantages I believed I held, these affirmations from authority figures helped distract me from the fact that I found it extremely difficult to socialize with people my age. I felt like few of my friends and even fewer of my classmates shared interests with me, and I abstained from social media apps that would put me in the loop, so I wasn’t really in touch with pop culture or current trends. My favorite band in high school hadn’t released music since 1992. Sometimes I felt like I could have better conversations with my 50-year-old coworkers than with my classmates. It sucked!!!  

But despite my frustration, I took this disconnect as a sign of my immutable nature. There was surely no solution for me except to finally grow into my sensibilities. I was waiting around for the day I felt my age. Looking back now, I realize that this stubbornness was deeply immature. And stupid.  

Holding on to the idea that you are better or smarter for being distant from the world you inhabit is anti-social. For the sake of pretentiousness or self-image, you isolate yourself from the people most likely to inform and change your life: the people your age. Being young and awkward sometimes requires that we make an effort to connect with the people around us, and that means we have to work on making ourselves more accessible. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve tried to get better at being young; I try to take more risks, watch more movies that have come out in the last decade and find topics I can genuinely enjoy and talk about with my peers.   

There’s nothing wrong with being an old soul. But it’s good to remember that your personality doesn’t equate to real life experience, and that there’s always value in the present. We have our whole lives to get older. What’s the rush?