This morning, I read this article about the increase in the numbers of over-20... ermm... 'kids...' who are still living at home in America. There was an article I read recently about this in the Time magazine, too, which explored the mind-sets of young people who are doing this and why it was being done. The stats are something like 25% of people aged between 20 and 35 in America are still living with the parental units.
This just seems bizarre to me!
Alright, this is Australia here, but for a long time our country has been known as 'Oh-My-Flipping-Gosh-Is-This-America?' to the more cynical, and we do seem to copy a lot of American trends (most of which I'd rather spend time slamming my fingers in a desk drawer than follow blindly along with. A pox on right-wing conservatism!).
Okay, so a number of my friends still live with their parents, but that's because they're young and in their final years of university or study. To me, that seems reasonable - saves money, you're still studying, don't have the cash to splash on rent/food/etc. Besides, uni is expensive and all of that. Then after uni, HECS and student loans and all of those other scary things sort of appear. And you have to find a job... One thing that has been noted in both of the articles/studies I've read about the 'twixters' (as Time called them) is that they're waiting for their dream job to pop up—one that they feel is a calling, and has a cushy salary to accompany it.
Umm... hello? Who usually has the luxury of getting such choice?
And anyways, many jobs can seem like a chore after a while, whether they're dream ones or not—in the end you realise that whatever you're doing, it's work from one end of it to the other, you're a slave to the wage and that there are never enough hours in the day. It's up to you individually to decide whether or not you'll actually find something to enjoy about it or whinge like a baby. Much of our satisfaction with work comes from our attitudes toward it, anyway, rather than from the job alone.
(On a tangent, having grown up on a farm, there were always hated jobs that had to be done there, but you stick them out and get them done and it doesn't seem so bad the next day when you get to do more of it. But then I guess there's satisfaction in those sort of things because the results are so immediate—you can see the things you've harvested or the grass that's been mown or whatever.)
Anyways!
Why live back at home with your parents after you've graduated from uni and have a job? Or even without a job? There's always the dole and you can share a house with friends and stuff like that while you search for a job or go back to further studies. It just seems like a bit of a loser thing to graduate and then return home to be like a long-term teenager or something. And it doesn't seem like it would be fair on the parents, either. I mean, they've worked hard, they need some alone time, time to have fun and just do whatever the hell they want to :) Why cause them added worries and expenses?
Sure, it's not much fun to find your feet at first as a totally independent person in the world, but it's so worth it and definitely rewarding. Yup, there's scrimping and saving and sudden realisations about the fact that you can't buy whatever the heck you want to because there are bills/rent/grocery expenses, but that's all learning.
I'd love to have my family closer to me or be closer to them geographically, but that probably won't happen, at least not while we're in the jobs that we're in at the moment. Still, we're really close in the terms of having a great connection and talking lots and caring for each other, and that's what matters :) And there's heaps of support from them in terms of them believing in me and inspiring me to be the best I can be. So even though I'm still 21 and living about 1000kms away from them, I'm still confident that I can do things.
Oh... and God definitely helps out too :) Without Him, I wouldn't be here and I wouldn't be discovering so many new things.
I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me... Philippians 4.13
2 comments:
Wow, that is inspiring in many ways!
OK, so I'm 21 and still living at home. About to go back to uni though. I guess I'd figured I'd come back to my folk's house to figure out what I'm doing before I move out, but I see how easily I could end up staying for a long time. I probably DO need to get out on my own quickly - not for my parents sake but for my own wellbeing. Thanks :)
And this: "Much of our satisfaction with work comes from our attitudes toward it, anyway, rather than from the job alone." is SO SO TRUE!
I think it's cool to do that sort of thing with between uni and stuff, but like a permanant living arrangement would be weird.
It's cool to be out and about, tho, and doing things for yourself :)
All jobs can suck if you don't look at them the right way *lol*
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