This world spins relatively fast, but to us, it seems like it can't spin fast enough! Some people are just so eager to grow up, and of course, that tends to tear them down extremely quickly! I learned this lesson from someone who’s about a year older than me, but she's old as dirt already. She grew up way too fast. She had her kids when she was still a kid. Talked crazy to her mom, tried moving in with her baby’s father...we all know someone in this same situation. I have never understood why in the heck she wanted to grow up so fast. It seems as if my entire generation is like that.

There is only a small window of time for us to be kids, but we all want to grow up way too fast. From birth to eighteen, you need to enjoy your life! Even from eighteen to, say, twenty-threeish, you shouldn't be feeling like an old man or old woman. You've got all the time in the world to be old, so enjoy your years as a kid. That means the smoking, drinking, sex whenever and with whoever, having babies, getting married...you have plenty of time to do all of that after your kid years, so why try to do all of it now?

One thing for sure that makes us want to grow old fast is love. Yeah, I said it! I talked to my best friend the other day, and he had hit emotional rock bottom over a girl that he thought he’d be with forever. He told me that everything he earned was all so he could one day provide for her and their future family. I asked him if he had any other goals, and you know what he said? “That was my goal.” That’s it. Getting married and having a family is amazing, don’t get me wrong, and I have friends who have married and are starting a family at this age, but that still shouldn’t be your end goal. Too many people around my age focus so much on finding “The One”, that they lose sight of “Number One”.

You are Number One. That’s right, you sitting here and reading this article. Number One is the only person you can control, the only person you can satisfy, and for sure the only person you can live for, so why waste away trying to find someone to share it with? The time will come when you will find your person. Stop worrying about that! Live your life in the meantime! You cannot expect to easily share your life with someone else when you don’t even know how to live it yourself. If you can’t deal with you alone, why would you expect someone else to?

That said, these are just a few things that make younger people seem so old. In light of that, since you seem to like challenges, I have a challenge for you. It is a simple challenge that only a few courageous souls will ever be able to complete. You ready? Here it is: Go out and live. I don’t mean go and do whatever you want, or just go and treat yourself here and there. I mean, live. Live so hard and young that your last breath is a sigh of “Whew! That was a good run!” Take yourself on a date, dance with a stranger, get out of the country, take that chance, get on that ride, and just LIVE. It only takes a few seconds of crazy to make you live.

I think the stupidest motto ever is "YOLO". I know it's origins are far older than Drake, but it seems like since Drake used it, everyone else has used YOLO as an excuse to grow up too fast. Yes, you only live once. But that should be why you enjoy everything in its own time instead of trying to live your life too fast. Let's make a deal. Let's start a trend. How about we stop being old? What If We Live? (WIWL)