I had the same thought a lot of kids did when I was young. I can’t wait to grow up. It was something I wished for. And why wouldn’t you? More freedom, more stuff to do. You can try alcohol. You can get it play mature games.
The wish to grow up is one I have always failed to understand. Why the hell did my younger self want that? Being an adult is tough. It’s not easy. It’s complicated. There’s a million and one things to do everyday and never enough time. You have to work. The free time you thought you’d have doesn’t exist. You spend a lot of time with a lot of people you don’t really like. Friends you had from your youth seem to drift. You may have a few who stay, but the massive group of friends you once through you had, they vanish. I am lucky in that regard, I grew up with an incredibly small circle of friends. My best friend is still someone I speak to everyday. However we did loose some friends as we’ve grown up. That small circle of friends is now smaller.
Wishing your childhood away is an awful choice. I miss not having to drag myself to work every day. I miss being able to spend 6 weeks free as anything. Going out with friends, experiencing the stupidest things and marvelling at best friend’s manic obsession with climbing trees. The world has changed from that happy, carefree age. Now I have to think about what party I should cast a vote for. (The Greens) Or what I need to save to pay rent. The simple fact is, being an adult in late stage capitalism is dreadful.
With the cost of living rising, the rise of the far right, and a multitude of other just awful things, the world of adults could not be anymore bleak. I look at my niece, she’s too young to understand the world properly yet. But I feel fear for her. Fear the world she is growing up into. The nasty political climate. The abhorrent rise of rape and sexual harassment which I hoped would be something of the past by now. Humans are nasty creatures with no sense of self preservation when it comes to late stage capitalism. All I can think of is the bad. The worst case scenario. I wished to grow up. Now I wish nothing more than to never have grown up at all.
Manic Writer 