With a depressed 19-year birthday passed and an unexciting Christmas coming up, it's pretty safe to assume that a) I'm growing up and b) like so many people may age, I hate it. And whether anyone ever reads this or not, I'm gonna have my bitchy five minutes about it all.
Get ready for a rant.
It seems that in our daily routines, spanning from anywhere between 18years to 120, we really do exist in ridiculous Catch-22s. And it also seems that should you ever point this fact out to anyone, they just say "That's life!"
And for over 19years, I have heard that phrase over and over again, just accepting it. But not anymore. It's finally time to learn what life actually is.
To live a balanced life, you need:
Money
Health
Hygiene
Shelter
Companionship/Family
Employment
Education
In no particular order, you understand. Although in this ever suffering society, it seems that without money, things fall apart.
Anyway, these things, add probably a few others which have escaped me, all need to be balanced and included. And it's absolutely fucking stupid.
IF you manage to get through 18+ years of education, you then need to get a job so you can sustain yourself and get through life. If not, you'll end up on the dole with no self-respect and other tax-paying civilians loathing you. Or dead, which seems like a more appealing offer.
So at long last, you find a job. Great. Now you need somewhere to live. But don't take time off work to find one, or you'll go back to square one.
Now you've got somewhere to live? Is it in a nice place? Is it in an acceptable condition? Are the neighbours twats? etc etc etc. Don't forget gas, water, electricity, Internet, heating, lighting, phones, furniture, food, commodities and little pleasures - IF you can still afford any. If you're also trying to raise a family along with everything else, good luck to you.
By now, education, employment, money and shelter have already come into it all. You might not even be out of your teen years yet. Now let's move into health and hygiene.
Get a shower once a day and brush your teeth twice a day - if you have enough time before and after work.
Make sure you get at least 30minutes of exercise per day - if you have the time/equipment/whatever else. And make sure you don't exercise TOO hard, or it'll require time and money for a doctor.
Eat at least five pieces of fruit or vegetables a day. But watch out, some fruit can often erode your teeth - so be ready to make time and pay for a trip for the dentist.
[Also be ready to protect your eyes, your ears, your nose, your hands, feet, arms, legs and basically everything else. Any one of these things fails and you're in trouble. Better hope you have money to pay for it too. Not easy if loss of limb gets you off work]
How's life going for you so far? If doctors, dentists, contractors, decorators, gardeners, dole-office-users, electricians, call-centres, bankers, opticians, chiropractors, gym-assistants, cleaners, teachers, kids and employers haven't got you down yet, you'll be just thrilled to know that it's all for jack-shit. Even if you're famous, there will eventually come a day when you will be entirely forgotten. You know it's true. Not forgetting either that the world will end someday - through our intervention or nature's. So why make the crap parts of life so damn important when eventually we'll just all be whiffs of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen all over again. My advice: have all the fun you can while you can. Nothing's forever.
We are just tiny, stupid, inconsiderate and unimportant creatures, stuck on a dying earth, endlessly shuffling around a dull, dismal, daily grind which seems to acquire nothing but debts, complaints, and an overall sense of emptiness. And if you ever find yourself saying this to someone else, they'll just pat your shoulder, look you in the eye and say "That's life".
With that reckoning, we'd all better hope the afterlife has something better. Or something different at least. Cos let's be honest, it's Hell around here already.
