Coming Of Age And The Pursuit Of Happiness

Num7

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A few days ago, my GF and I were spending time at home with our nieces, and it reminded me of how I felt back in the day when I was their age. They're 4 and 6. I surprised myself at some point completely lost in my thoughts silently staring at the wall. I'd like to share what I was pondering about.

Remember when we were kids? We were innocent and optimistic. Everything was amazing and impressive. Everything was new and grand. The first time someone taught you how to play chess. The first time you tried playing an electric guitar. The first time you played a certain video game. The first time you ride a bike without small side-wheels. Those were amazing moments I'll remember all my life. So will our nieces. And showing them new things reminded me of how I felt when I discovered those things myself, many years ago.

Then it struck me. Why am I no longer amazed by new stuff like they are? It feels like I'm no longer the optimist I was as a kid and a lot of things seem somewhat futile and boring. What about the cool new stuff people show me? New video games, new movies? New cars? New whatever... I've become harder and harder to impress, to amaze, it's like I've become numb to that. Why? Have I become a boring old person? ...I'm 33 BTW.

It seems that when we're kids, we're incredibly impatient and we'd like to become adults. But we don't understand how it works yet. Once we're older, we spend our lives in pursuit of how we felt when we were kids, trying to reach the level of amazement and simple happiness we've known so long ago. And it's impossible to top those moments.

Have you ever thought of this?
 

Mayhem

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Are they blindsided by technology and forgetting what life is really like, is this an agenda to drag humans from feeling and experiences i wonder.

Crawl before you walk or it is know jump before it all.
 

Wind7

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These days I realize that I have become that weird old dude that I used to look at and go,
"I hope I never look like that when I'm that old!"

I may be well into adulthood but I refuse to give up dreaming, setting goals and following through when I can.
It's all in how perception changes and of course how you let those perceptions change you.

In life as I am older now, I will never be what I once was,
But I can at least once a day be like I ever was.

(Does that make sense?)

:cool:
 

TimeFlipper

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A few days ago, my GF and I were spending time at home with our nieces, and it reminded me of how I felt back in the day when I was their age. They're 4 and 6. I surprised myself at some point completely lost in my thoughts silently staring at the wall. I'd like to share what I was pondering about.

Remember when we were kids? We were innocent and optimistic. Everything was amazing and impressive. Everything was new and grand. The first time someone taught you how to play chess. The first time you tried playing an electric guitar. The first time you played a certain video game. The first time you ride a bike without small side-wheels. Those were amazing moments I'll remember all my life. So will our nieces. And showing them new things reminded me of how I felt when I discovered those things myself, many years ago.

Then it struck me. Why am I no longer amazed by new stuff like they are? It feels like I'm no longer the optimist I was as a kid and a lot of things seem somewhat futile and boring. What about the cool new stuff people show me? New video games, new movies? New cars? New whatever... I've become harder and harder to impress, to amaze, it's like I've become numb to that. Why? Have I become a boring old person? ...I'm 33 BTW.

It seems that when we're kids, we're incredibly impatient and we'd like to become adults. But we don't understand how it works yet. Once we're older, we spend our lives in pursuit of how we felt when we were kids, trying to reach the level of amazement and simple happiness we've known so long ago. And it's impossible to top those moments.

Have you ever thought of this?
I think you are suffering from Depression, brought about by what i call "Coviditis"...Its the mental effects from everything thats been happening in the World recently with the Covid virus along with its latest mutations....Everyday we consistently hear about millions more people dying from that virus along with millions more taken into hospital hoping to be treated, or just waiting to die from its effect..

Of course Its understandable how you feel and why you look back at times when everything was new and exciting, you do that for your own mental respite, but now you see no end to this virus problem and the results are that everything now seems futile and you lack interest in many things...Personally I could be feeling just the same as you are, but my mental strength has been helped thanks to the lifelong optimist Captain Sir Thomas Moore, affectionately known to millions of people around the World simply as, Captain Tom..
 

Num7

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I don't think I'm suffering from depression. If anything, I'm happier than I've been in more than a year. I feel pretty good.

What I shared above didn't make me sad or anything negative. It made me realize how we don't always understand ourselves, the things we seek, and why. At some point we understand it, but much later. If that makes sense.
 

Wind7

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I don't think I'm suffering from depression. If anything, I'm happier than I've been in more than a year. I feel pretty good.

What I shared above didn't make me sad or anything negative. It made me realize how we don't always understand ourselves, the things we seek, and why. At some point we understand it, but much later. If that makes sense.

That makes perfect sense, Num.

I went through the same sort of thing when I was 34. To help resolve it,
I stuffed $1600.00 worth of top tier Audio equipment into my Vehicle!

It was something that I, up-to-then, had always dreamed of having but couldn't afford.
It felt good to do and I finally had me some brilliant sound going down that old road of life.

For me, it worked. :) I found that old kid in me and embraced him. ;)
 

toastwang

Junior Member
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40
I think we lose that optimism outlook because over the years you forget about the enjoyment and appreciation of the world around you and begin to focus on the “bigger picture”(money,items,family,knowledge). So my theory is we subconsciously rate what we see wether it’s useful, we like it, or it’s benefiting. kids don’t think the just experience with there “feelings on there arm” sorta speak. I’m still very young myself so I’m not to credible in the matter.
 

PoisonApple

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I think this way all the time... I'm a huge sucker for nostalgia. Few things excited me as much as getting a new Barbie doll. ♡ I would treasure the very box it came in. Or the excitement of going to Blockbuster on a Friday night, the feeling you had on Christmas Eve or the day before summer vacation began...I'll admit, I'm still a kid at heart. I like to collect toys, for example (embarrassing). :geek: I'll forever chase that feeling of youthful excitement...
 

NaturalPhilosopher

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I think this way all the time... I'm a huge sucker for nostalgia. Few things excited me as much as getting a new Barbie doll. ♡ I would treasure the very box it came in. Or the excitement of going to Blockbuster on a Friday night, the feeling you had on Christmas Eve or the day before summer vacation began...I'll admit, I'm still a kid at heart. I like to collect toys, for example (embarrassing). :geek: I'll forever chase that feeling of youthful excitement...
bible backs ya up...says to be like little children full of wonder.
to explore, have fun, ya know...everything we wanted to do as adults when we were kids.
not be cynical, bitter, sarcastic, immoral, overly guarded, manipulators like adults today

benjamin franklin said it best, people die at 25 and are buried at 75
 

Mayhem

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I think this way all the time... I'm a huge sucker for nostalgia. Few things excited me as much as getting a new Barbie doll. ♡ I would treasure the very box it came in. Or the excitement of going to Blockbuster on a Friday night, the feeling you had on Christmas Eve or the day before summer vacation began...I'll admit, I'm still a kid at heart. I like to collect toys, for example (embarrassing). :geek: I'll forever chase that feeling of youthful excitement...
I can directly relate to going to the video shop when i was younger, some sort of excitement. It was that the movies were great it was just being in there.

Later in life a friend ran his own shop had everything wall to ceiling movies, tv series, docos, all types of games consoles for hire but sadly demand dropped off pretty quickly and like most or if not all video shops had to close up.
 

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