Suck it up – part two.
I often also look back with amazement on the careless extravagance and freedom of youth.
Sometimes it’s my own youth that sparks it, other times it’s seeing someone else’s. Like teenagers out getting snacks for a movie night, while someone else is home cooking dinner.
Plugging away on those recent drawings about work, I realised the extravagance of youth extended to emotions as well. The drama and certainty of black and white.
Spend two years pining for a girl who wasn’t interested, while turning down several other offers? Sure! Feeling lonely and moody while living in an awesome party / share house? Why not!
That passion cut both ways, for every feeling of intense isolation was the conviction of changing the universe. Quit uni and spend a few years living without a tv or telephone, drawing every day? You bet I did.
I might regret a couple of notches that aren’t on my bed post, but youth looks like too much hard work. The greys of compromise might be more complicated, but there’s freedom there too.