Time Doesn’t Wait

I started growing my hair long during my senior year of high school. I followed that with a beard as soon as it started growing in enough that I didn’t look like a fool. I had the pony tail and goatee throughout my ski bum and college years. But that came to a screeching halt when I decided I was going to apply for a bank job.

For 7 years I shaved every weekday and kept my hair well groomed. I accepted that I was going to keep my appearance acceptable to the bank and my client’s standards. I climbed up in the bank quickly and I felt that as a 32 year old Vice President I should try and portray that I was mature and conservative to fit the mold.

Now of course I still had an IPod in my office where I listened to the Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic, and even the Beastie Boys. I also was easy to find at chamber of commerce networking events because I was always near the bar. But I always felt strange telling my coworkers that I was going to music festivals on the weekend. Sometimes I just said I was camping because it was easier to explain.

Now that I have moved on to live my own life, I started growing my hair long and started growing a beard. It wasn’t really a conscious decision, it just feels right to me. I’m wearing comfortable clothes and having a shaggier appearance. I caught my reflection in a window today when I was running an errand and I thought to myself, “Dang, I look a lot younger than I used to”. This made me feel good. I was finally acting my age and being myself.

Then something horible happened while I was brushing my teeth. I looked closer in the mirror and noticed the hair growing on my face had many grey hairs in it. Seriously, grey hair after grey hair growing out of my chin. I didn’t look younger. Damn, I actually looked much older.

In all honesty it doesn’t really matter to me because I am very happy to be who I am and looking old or young is not important to me. But it is very symbolic about the time that I lost. While I was playing by somebody else’s rules, my life was passing by. That is time I will never get back. There is nothing I can do about the 7 years of my life that were spent living someone else’s dream.

My life wasn’t just on pause while I was doing what I thought I needed to do. My life was passing me by. All I can say is that I am very thankful that I woke up and took control of my life before any more time passed. I would hate to play by someone else’s rules my entire life then retire at 65 with arthritis, a sore back, and poor eye sight. How devistating to realize that the best years of your life were sold to the corporation with the hope that you would someday retire. Then when you do retire you are too old to do the things you truly enjoy.

Don’t let this happen to you. Start living your own life.

Tags: be yourself, Corporate Ladder, freedom, gratetude, growing older

This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 7:22 am and is filed under Living in the Corporate World, Take life in your own hands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.