Scope of Life

Posted on 13 October 2009

So, I’m twenty-six years old right now. Granted, most people who meet me expect that I’m fairly older than that. Probably helps that I’ve been in my day-job career for ten years already, have two kids, half the time am wearing a thickish, full beard, and I am—not to be conceited—a rather intelligent fellow. So, I have a problem. Whenever I meet people my age, I actually have a hard time relating to them. But, should I?

See, I have this odd misconception that people in their mid-twenties should still be fairly unaccomplished and still settling down into their lives, and I have no clue why.  My parents married when they were an average age of nineteen and had both experienced a broad range of life well before I was born eight years later.  Both my grandfathers served in the military during wartime while they were quite young, and my aunts and uncles have lived fast, full lives thus far.  Even my brother was taking on a fair amount of responsibility and had been happily married for some time by the time he was my age.

Perhaps it’s actually a reverse psychology going on.  I don’t exactly feel accomplished in my life, truth be told.  Yeah, I’ve been in my field for a decade, but I’m still at an “entry level” position.  A skilled-worker position, true, but still entry level.  Yeah, I have kids, but I also have a failed marriage.  Yeah, I write, and I like to think well, but I still am nothing more than an amateur.  I live a life of almost and not quite.

So, how about I stop being emo about it, eh?  I have my accomplishments, and as I said, I try to not live with regrets, so whatever.  How can I take this and bend it into something constructive?

Well, I guess some of it comes to character building.  I won’t say that everyone feels like they’ve done less than they really have, but it is seems like a human reaction.  We marginalize our own lives and experiences cause, well, we did them.  Of course they are old hat to us.  So, I think, even the most hardened and confident person is going to feel at least somewhat humble about their life.  And, of course, a lack of scoped humility can be a wonderful character flaw.

But, I think there is a definite habit by some authors to make “awesome” characters and loose them in that awesomeness.  Perhaps it’s the difficulty of getting into the person’s head, or just being caught up in the things the character needs to do with all the skills/experiences they have been given.  I don’t know, but I can tell you that a cock-sure character who isn’t flawed for being it is rather boring, in my humble opinion.

So, I posit to you, good sirs and dames, step back a think of your achievements in life and recognize them for what they are.  A little bit of confidence never hurt anyone, eh?  Well, maybe, but bah, you know what I mean.