The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same

I've been getting a lot of notifications recently about my 10-year high school reunion.

I am amazed at despite how much time has passed, how little some people seem to change. There are some people who still live in the same district as our high school, go to the same restaurants, and probably eat and drink all the same stuff.

I cannot fathom being the same person today as I was in high school.

Heck, there are a lot of days I wake up and I'm confident I'm a different person than I was the day before.

TEN YEARS.

And still the same.

I will not be attending my high school reunion. I'm friends with ~2 people I went to high school with.

To be fair, this phenomenon isn't isolated to people you went to high school with.

College doesn't seem much different. 

I'm proud that my close friend group from college have all moved on to bigger and better things. But there are a surprising number of people I know from my time at Auburn who are STILL living in or around Auburn and doing the same shit they've been doing for years.

What's more terrifying is the people who left our small college town, moved somewhere else and are stuck in Neverland. It almost seems like they actually believe they will never grow up, despite the arguments from their growing pudge and army of wrinkles. 

I kind of expected that some of the people I went to high school with would stay frozen in time forever.

For some reason, I'm surprised that it happens to people I went to college with. I don't know why I'm surprised. College is far more of a trap than high school to me.

It's an alluring place. Cheap cost of living. Lots of bars and restaurants. Drink specials all the time. Lots of young, attractive people consistently hanging out and doing stupid/fun stuff. Sports.

I understand the draw.

But do these people never consider the story they are telling with their lives? Do they think about what they want to have accomplished by the time they die which, by the way, could be tomorrow?

I implore you...do something tomorrow that you've never done before. Even if it's improving a skill you've had forever, but never pushed forward. Just do something different OR better tomorrow than you did today.

Don't get stuck. Don't be the same person at 56 that you are at 21. You will be disappointed and so will everyone around you.

Leave a legacy that's more than being stuck in the mud doing the same things you've always done.

I believe in you.