Because I cannot be the only one thinking this.
I googled today “Indiana Jones like adventures around the World”.
An eye catching organization came up that took people to remote places around the world to introduce them to some exotic challenges and up-skill them with the most unusual tricks. However, the application age was 16-30 years old. Darn.. My FOMO instantly awoke and started fuming! How could I have missed this in my life!? Am I to lame to still crave new thrills? Would I even be able to enjoy such an adventure when I am trillion years old even if I find someone to take me? I can’t enjoy late drunken nights anymore and numerous other things I totally would have 10 years ago. Would I enjoy this as much as I would have 10 years ago? Have I missed out forever on such a special thrill of for ex. 12 people camping in a cave, talking big dreams around a camp fire?
Then I remembered..
What the hell? I KNOW this is stupid talk! I already had this talk with myself some 15 years ago! (I should summon up some of that fresh-human wisdom). When I was still a very vigorous soul (not long after I became old enough to philosophize, which was quite early on) I had the notion that the fact that young people seek thrills and adventures as a developmental phase, camouflages the true adventurers amongst them, and that the expectation of eventually being saturated with such thrills confused the ones who genuinely had the need forever. Those would later develop beyond the boundaries of traditional stiffening-with-age and develop into the new generation of dream makers. And if someone is a true seeker, aging is doing them a small favor even, by peeling off all the layers of “fake” from real opportunities that pop up along the path making it easier to spot where treasures in life lie. True “fairy dust seekers” become more sophisticated through the years and polish their hunt for the meaningful. There are things worth digging for (a topic of its own).
However, regardless of being convinced of this throughout the years, to my surprise, I found that the momentum of majority’s behavior is swaying me in a dangerous direction. Sometimes it tricks me into believing I am out-of-order for still wanting the same thrills and being excited about the same ideas that were my drive when I was 25. I swing between understanding everyone, on one side and understanding me, on the other. Then I take a long and honest look, and it is more than obvious.. I don’t want what most want or already have (and that is yet another other topic). It looks sad and empty. And if there is a potential to find some real stuff, well then.. there is really no choice, is there? And let us never forget..
Curiosity and thrill thirst come from genuine need, not desire.
~G.
oolloum 