Saturday, March 01, 2008

::: stream of consciousness about getting older :::

I think I'm having an identity crisis.

For so long, I've felt that I was in a stage of life that I could ride on out, and when it was over, I could get on with my life. After I'm done being a mom, I'll be a writer. After I'm done being a daughter, I'll be a lover. After I'm done having babies, I'll lose weight.

But now I find that I'm approaching a stage I wasn't quite prepared to enter into.

Middle age.

And it reminds me that I shouldn't wait. That I need to get right to those things I want to do. I need to write. I need to travel. I need to love more and yell less and be patient more and procrastinate less.

But it also has another effect on me. Futility. I feel so much like the writer of Ecclesiastes. Futile! It's all futile! It will all go up in a puff of smoke! I spend a lot of my time wondering, "Why start now? Your life is half over!" or thinking, "If only I'd done that way back when..."

I hadn't realized how much this would affect me. Why bother running? The body's falling apart anyway. Why bother starting a career? Educating myself? Reaching for goals?

Smoke!

I'm trying to embrace today, struggling to improve, hoping that my best days are still ahead of me.

Do you ever feel this way?

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