anothernoise

As I watched a group of high school students playing beach volleyball—laughing, shouting, and brimming with energy—I sat quietly by the shore and couldn’t help but wonder: where did the optimism of my youth go? Why is it that as we grow older, we begin to let go of so many things, instead of pushing harder to make them happen the way we once dreamed? Why do we so easily allow life to steer us off course? When I was little, I saw adults as people who simply didn’t want to try harder. They seemed easily content, sometimes defeated, as if they had already surrendered to the way life treated them. Back then, I thought they were lazy.  Now I realize it’s not that simple. Happiness is Something Fleeting As a woman in my early 30s living in a relentless metropolis where the pressure to keep evolving never stops, I understand better. Happiness is fleeting . Sometimes it lasts only a few seconds, sometimes longer, but never long enough to resemble the fairy tale promise of “happily ever a...