I read this one liner some where…”Growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional!” but little did I realize then it is so untrue. I would say growing up is not optional but it is induced.
The work has not changed drastically, the place has not changed drastically, the group you have around has not changed drastically but still everything seems so different now compared to the pre-PG work days. Then you realize that the only thing changed is your age. You have no option left other than to grow up and act matured. The reason why I say this is induced is majorly because of these various reasons.
Facebook:
Your FB activity will involve writing messages like “congrats wish u happy married life” or “congrats…both of you look good together” more often than birthday wishes. All these photos and status updates like “welcome to the world” “committed for life” just make you realize that people around you are moving to the next phase in life but you are still stuck there. So sub consciously you start feeling that you shouldn’t be left out.
Phone calls from friends:
Slowly reality strikes that your friends never call at the same frequency they used to. Even if they call it is just to announce that they are getting married or they are going abroad or they just got a new house. There are no more calls just to shout after you get drunk or no more calls just to laugh when you know your friend had a break up. Anyways you can’t help it and eventually you will be sitting and planning your leaves just to attend your long list of friends’ wedding.
Boozing:
Well gone are the days when you have a really crazy night after drinking. Gone are the days when you dance after drinking. Gone are the days when you listen to song after drinking. Now thanks to your body, your drinking capacity has reduced. You start getting high in a single beer or two. All the booze talk is now just about people who got married, people who got new jobs, your ex’s who got kids or about your boring work and how badly you are looking for a change. After all this talk you just crave to hit the bed so that you can forget all this and just SLEEP.
Physique:
I still remember when I used to wonder why people get down from bike and comb their hair even before parking their bike. Now I finally got the wisdom to understand why it’s done. At this age you start worrying about your hair fall, grey hair or tummy about which you never bothered earlier. You go somewhere now you have to make sure your shirt is not too tightly tucked in so that your tummy is seen. You curse the wind which has played a spoil sport and you cover your hair to hide your scalp. Whatever you try to be all the DUDE your body gives away and people start calling you UNCLE.
Settling Down bull shit:
Suddenly people talk about investing, buying house or saving. You feel guilty if you hadn’t thought about all this. You can see people posting photos with their new cars, new house, new wife or anything just with a tag line “My first…”. You see that all freaked thinking why there are no more photos of gulping down a mug of beer, or posing near someone else’s car. Whatever you just press the like button on the photo with the thought when will I get all these and start seeing for options to get settled financially.
Society:
The entire universe seems to be worried about you growing up. Suddenly everyone wants to know everything right from why you have not shaved to what you are doing to when you are getting married. Just to give them answers you feel you should probably get something done. Ridiculous pressure just to avoid the blank face when these questions are thrown.
Arranged Marriage:
Most of the times the advice you hear from friends are like “OK I understand, let’s go drink!” but suddenly you can hear these friends cribbing about arranged marriage and how difficult it is to find the perfect girl. Your parents,till now, were worried about you coming home thin or about not eating properly suddenly ask you about requirements for marriage. You sit there not knowing how to handle the awkward conversation while slowly the thought of getting late to the party will reduce the probability of getting a good girl is put in your mind. You slowly give way and get ready to lose your bachelorhood!
Dating:
You can’t find single girls to date. All you can see is people already dating someone or in a relationship or in a committed relationship or engaged to someone or already married or even worse with kids. If you see someone who just had a break up then its like a vacant seat in a crowded bus, people just rush towards it. You get tired of this drill and turn to the arranged marriage episode.
All of this that I have mentioned above and many more reasons which I have not listed push you to the next stage of life. People want you to take the next step irrespective of whether you are ready or not. The thought that you shouldn’t be left out in the rat race drives you. But who cares I don’t want to be in the race. I just want to stand and stare!
Being Vetti Blog 