Naivety of youth.
My God, my husband and I had an extra serving of that when we were young.
We began dating when we were teenagers. We knew we wanted to have a different life than what we knew. No one taught us how to change our future family dynamic.
We wanted to get out of our dreary midwestern town and live in the sunny south where people were friendly and the grass is nearly green year round. We only knew this much from driving through the south every few years on family vacations.
He wanted to be a doctor and I wanted to have a family and build a home for them. He was the first one in his family to GO to college, yet alone graduate and no one had stepped foot on a medical school campus.
We were going to move to the town where the medical school was that he wanted to attend and he would take undergraduate classes there. The first time we visited that college town was when we were moving there.
I quit my job and he moved from his dad’s and we left for out-of-state with a plan. The plan was about two sentences long and without financial backing.
What fools we were. My dad told me it would never work and his parents didn’t really comprehend the gravity and years of work that were necessary to do what we wanted to do.
Youth can make you try things, that when you are a seasoned adult, you would never try.
Naivety can be a blessing and youth will eventually work itself out, with age.
This story is for our three boys so that they realize that they need to see what they want AND be willing to work to make it happen. We are proof that with a vision of what you want your life to be and the ability to go for it you can have the life of your dreams.
You just have to be willing to be a little naive.
As you age do you find yourself far more cautious?
I think it is because we realize how much more we have to lose.
What do you think?
-Abbie, All that makes you… allthatmakesyou.com
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Comments
“with a vision of what you want your life to be and the ability to go for it you can have the life of your dreams.”.. that is inspiring 🙂
I think it is all about attitude and believing in what your dreams are. If you don’t believe you can do it why should other people? Thanks for coming by and for the comment.
I love taking those blind leaps……….moving to a new town–no home, no job, no prospects. It exhilarates me.
Doesn’t it give perspective? Then when you build a life there you look back and think of all you accomplished and all the experiences you tucked away in your tool box. I love the retrospect of my preconceived notions when first arriving in a town and then years later discovering what the town is really made of.
I would still consider myself a youngin’ at only 20 years old, but I can still attest to getting more cautious as I get older. I’ve actually been thinking about it a lot recently. When I was a kid, life was so carefree and enjoyable because I just didn’t understand the logical side of things. I miss that way of thinking so much. I wish I was still like that. But I don’t think there’s anything bad to say for being wise too. I think we all need an equal balance of both!
I wouldn’t ever want to be 20 or even 30 again, if it meant giving up what each year has taught me. Every year is a gift and every experience has something worthy to be gleaned. I thought I knew so much at 20. I did but I didn’t know who I WAS YET. That really didn’t come until my mid 30’s when I just started to embrace myself. I am a terrible person, I don’t want any “self help.” Ha ha! I have survived and I love my life and I want to spend whatever time I have left embracing “all that has made me.” That is what happened when I began approaching my mother’s age when she passed away. I thought, hers was a life that was never fully formed. She never had a chance to be what she probably truly wanted to be and here I am with more blessing that I could have ever hoped for. The blessings I refer to are my children, their health and happiness and my ability to care for them and provide for them. I want to be happy with now and who I am now instead of being one of those people chasing down what they think they should be.
Take the risks when you are young! Live and try things. How will you know what makes you happy until you go out and sample and reach for things. Sometimes when you reach them you realize what you had was what you didn’t know you wanted.
Yes! I completely agree. I also had an “extra helping” of it when I was younger and I am thrilled. I took so many risks I wouldn’t be able to do now – with my life, following my passions, living life to its fullest. I hope my kids can be naive long into their adulthood because it’s far better than wise and jaded.
I think we have to be less carefree as we get older. It gives the younger people more opportunities. The funny thing was we just had no idea how the decisions we made would end up directing our future.
I’ve nothing to say about being cautious or naïve, but do want to say that you two were and are wiser than I’ve been. Also, that picture of the two of you is fabulous.
Oh, we have made plenty of mistakes but I think the wide open positive and enthusiastic attitude of youth helped. Ha ha! That picture is from last fall at a Notre Dame game we flew up with friends to watch. Such a great time. Love to look at pictures that remind me of times like that. Thanks for the nice words. 🙂
“As you age do you find yourself far more cautious?”
Yes, but I was never that adventurous to begin with…
We didn’t know we were being adventurous. It was ignorance and youth that made us think it was simple. Age has jaded us with “going for it” but don’t you think that is the way a balance occurs in the world?