Second Adolescence

Everyday, as I grow older, the desire to break free, the desire to just be me grows stronger. With age, some of the knowledge does get translated into wisdom, wisdom that life is uncertain and is beautiful only if you are able to follow self-will. Life is too short to live others expectations,too short to fulfil other people's dreams . Living life on your own terms, with an open mind and open heart, boundless, borderless and limitless is what life is all about. Our childhood is spent in trying to fulfil the unspoken expectations or at times vocal desires of our parents. Like osmosis their dreams, their ambitions, their thoughts about the world and life, all seep into our characters, knowingly or unknowingly polluting our very essence.

20s are spent in trying to fulfil their dreams and the diktats of society -the norm, the rules, the ambition, and peer pressure. Life seems endless, life full of hopeless hopes, fearful fears and the insatiable desire to reach somewhere, to be someone, to achieve, to "become", holds us slave.

In our 30s, we are are so entrapped in the day to day living, the invisible but heavy responsibilities that keeps us slave, to maintain what we have become. 30s we live for others, kids, careers, trying to "settle down". Some of us  drown our very essence under the the pressures of life - the assault of have to's totally hijacking the joys of living. The invincibility cloak, meekly surrendering to the blows of disappointments and  failures, and if you are lucky revealing your true essence.

It takes around 4 decades, to confront our fears, to shed our inhibitions, and if we are lucky, to finally discover our own essence. It is at this age, that we truly start questioning the beliefs that were shoved down our throats about how society expected our lives to be. The years of responsibilities take their toll , and the need to break free and just be yourself takes precedence over what is considered right and what is wrong. The day we realize, it is "my life", my gift, and my journey , we set ourselves free from all the man made rules of "have to dos".

And thus begins the mid-life crisis, the period when we look back and realize that half of our lives was spent living someone else's dream, and as the body starts showing first signs of decay, the urgency to "live", to be yourself reaches a crescendo  leading at times to rebellious second adolescence.