As I was pulling into work the other day, I noticed a license plate on a vehicle read: “Yng4life”. It immediately egged on cynical thoughts. And I don’t criticize that person for expressing their desire to stay forever young.
I just think we’re obsessed with being a younger age. Our culture is so wrapped up in it that we forget about all the benefits of growing a year older.
Apart from the obvious—life experience—there are so many reasons why I don’t want to be 22 again (or whatever arbitrary age comes to your mind when you fantasize about being younger).
We glorify this idea that being young is a state of bliss. It represents some nostalgic version of us that is untouchable and doesn’t exist anymore. It’s like a Hollywood movie.
It’s romanticized, there’s emotion tied to it, and it feels invincible. But I think the idea of forever young is either really flawed or we apply it in the wrong way.
Focusing on wishing for a past version of yourself will remove you from everything you currently know and have. It takes you out of your current situation and places you in a time where your present self can no longer relate. It's a fantasy.
And it’s okay if you can’t relate to the person you used to be. You shouldn’t really be able to.
When I think about fun times in college I don’t wish for that back. It’s fun to reminisce about, sure. But my wife and I have two perfect children now. I’m established in a career that I enjoy.
The days are tough sometimes, but isn’t that just life? I can’t perpetually live in a time and place where I can survive off taco bell and a couple hundred bucks a week. There’s nothing cool or glorious about that. And I struggle to accept this idea that everybody wishes to be young again.
I recently read a study from 2019 on depression. The study showed that the highest rates of depression were by people aged 18-29.
We think our twenties were just the best time to be alive. Apparently we don’t remember all those struggles with career choice, college, complicated relationships and identity crisis.
I remember in undergrad my professor was talking about how people actually get happier as they age. We have a hard time believing this stuff, but I could see it.
I think there’s this constant internal battle between trying to live in the moment, and looking to the future. The past gets pushed into the nostalgic category, but that doesn’t mean that everything was better.
It just means that we’re growing up, prioritizing more often, and being adults. You cannot possibly become the person you are without your teens and twenties. But living there in your mind is only robbing you of the happiness in your current daily routine.
I think the best way to apply Yng4life today is within a mindset. I talk about my kids a lot because they are constantly renewing my perspective on things.
And when you jump into adulthood things get real serious for a while. You’re trying to get everyone to take you seriously, you’re furthering your schooling or career, trying to land respectable jobs, etc. It’s easy to take life too seriously.
Kids show us how to apply Yng4life. My kids have me clinging to the concept. It doesn't matter what stress or adult problem gets in the way, they don't care. They bring life back to its purest form.
There's no corruption, there's no politics, and the biggest stressor is choosing between a cheese stick or fruit snacks. They're a perfect example of not taking life too seriously.
They enjoy the little things. I seriously gave my daughter a cheese stick the other day and she yelled, “THANK YOU” and gave me a big hug.
Staying young isn't an age, or a physical body, it's a mindset. And it can last forever if you work at it.
Sometimes playing a simple board game keeps us young. Or chewing some bubblegum.
Life is full of the little things, and I personally believe we can't take this thing too seriously, so get at it. Have a cheese stick for breakfast to start and see where it goes from there.