(PCM) “These are the final few years where we can really live for ourselves, so let’s drink.” I can’t tell you how many times my guy friends have said this in the past year as an excuse to why we should continue day drinking and getting obliterated.
As 25-year-olds, for some reason they think that the best years are behind us. I have heard that whole “those were my best years,” in every stage of my life from various mentors. When I was in high school, I was told to live it up. When I was in college, I was told the years go by too fast. Now post-grad, I am told life will never be the same; so enjoy it.
For someone who is almost 25, I must say that I think I am exhausted with “enjoying myself.” I had a great time in high school, four typical college years, and now two years of drunken bliss. I don’t know what more I could do to kill my liver or deprive myself of sleep-filled nights.
I am now frustrated with that statement. Every year we just try to recreate what we’ve been doing for many years. Why does our life have to continue to be one long frat party? I’ve already dressed up one too many times for the “Dynamic Duos” and “Pros and Hoes” themed events.
Fast forward two years later, and adolescents are getting much more creative with themed parties. Now, Hoboken and the City hosts things such as Santa-con, Pirate-con, and Lepre-Con: events that encourage people in the tri-state area to dress up as (the name suggests) a Santa, Pirate, and Leprechaun, as they drink themselves silly all day long.
Oh, and let’s not forget St. Patty’s Day in general. I don’t have enough money to fund me or energy to power me through the entire month of March. The entire month is spent drinking green beer and being loud in random streets throughout the region.
Let’s also add to that list “Sunday Funday.” Now that we all legally can attend bars, young urban professionals found a way to turn football games, which is normally joined by beers, into an all-day drinking festivity.
I think it is safe to say that we are and have been “living it up.” I am tired of binge drinking, I am tired of waking up on the couch of someone else’s apartment, and I am tired in general. I think getting a cosmo with my friends after work is a lot more my speed than these college-like get togethers that happen so far away from our actual college years. Why can’t settling into a rewarding career, beginning grad school to explore your targeted areas, and developing a healthy relationship with someone be exciting milestones too? Why can’t those things be factors that contribute to us “living it up.”
Some smart bartender must have started that as a clever marketing technique to scare people in their 20s to think that their life will suck once they stop partying. My 50-year-old parents party elegantly with their closest of friends, and enjoy themselves to the fullest. So is that the next “best time of our lives” to look forward to? I didn’t know they stopped selling liquor to people over 30?
