To be honest, the title was a bit of clickbait. Sorry! I often hear this take delivered as a spooky omen from the magical oracle of my future self “ooo don’t forget to drink, dance and do drugs while you still can oooo” but I don’t know if it’s that serious.
Sure, intense wellness obsession can definitely interrupt a valuable engagement with your life and those in it. We spoke about that last week, highlighting the importance of balance. Health obsession would definitely get in the way of the social interactions and journeying outside your comfort zone that I feel people need for growth. However, let’s place people dealing with health obsession to the side for today and for my thoughts, I’m thinking about people in their early twenties who have a relatively balanced relationship with wellness.
Firstly, I think that it seems more like the younger gen’s are more obsessed with health than partying because of the very nature of social media. One, we have been told time and time again that a digital footprint is permanent, so it’s not like people are rushing to post videos of how insanely drunk they were on Saturday night or what mixture of party drugs they took. In the same vein, the people they are looking up to the most aren’t posting the full extent of their party nights either. Behind the scenes of your most balanced influencer’s weekend vlog could be a bad trip, a dealer meet up or god knows what else. There’s an acute sense of if we don’t see it online, it’s not happening. And I just don’t think that’s true!
Increased access to information could also be a massive part of this aversion to write yourself off as often and as intensely as those before us. The dangers of intense drinking and drug use have been drilled into me by the scariest TV ads ever and I know for myself, being raised on Geordie Shore and The Real Word constantly reinstated an idea that being absolutely black out drunk is not a desirable activity. But that doesn’t mean I don’t party! I just know that the way people talk about how they used to spend their weekends seems a lot more intense and frequent than anything my twenties has seen.
The fear of wasting your twenties also comes from a fear of aging. Your perception of what it means to be fifty might be fueling a rush to squeeze a lifetime of enjoyment between the ages of 18-28. That is not enough time to have all of the fun you’re ever gonna have!
Finally, I don’t really understand the hype. Maybe they’re right! Maybe I am boring and we’re not as fun any more because honestly? Staying at home and having a few wines while we watch a powerpoint someone made, compete in trivia and play charades is my ideal night. I’d so much rather be sitting at a wine bar getting drunk and beating a dead horse with my best friends than waiting an hour for a drink at a bar while sweaty men stand too close to me. Again, don’t get me wrong, I love a music festival, I love a club, and dancing with my friends, and doing shots. But I don’t do it often and when I do, I don’t really post about it and. So yeah, it might seem like I’m less fun than the 26-year-olds in 2010, and maybe I am, but as long as I maintain a balance that brings me joy, I think it’s okay.