‘Settling down’
definition: Allowing social norms to dictate the way you live your life. Opting
for more responsibility, tie downs and routine. Buy a house, get a wife and
have children not because you want to, but because society says it’s time to. Starve
yourself of freedom until you’ve worked enough to live off your superannuation
then, and only then, you are free to travel the world like you should have done
in your youth.
Settling down can suck my dick!
Most people think they
settle down because they want to settle down. I would argue that they settle
down because they feel the clamps of society are tightening and must do responsible
things now otherwise it’ll be too late. People settle down because they want
stability and they want stability because they have a deep overwhelming fear
that they’ll be in their 40’s and 50’s with nothing.
The life of a man who settles down too early
18-19: Goes to Europe once on a Contiki tour (20 countries in 12 days)
20-21: His friends get girlfriends so he settles for some chick he met at his
local pub just so he isn’t left out.
22-23: He moves in with his girlfriend and works hard to save enough money
for a house because that’s what his parents told him to do.
24-25: He complains to his friends about his girlfriend, but out of fear he
stays with his girlfriend because he feels that he can’t do any better.
26-27: He has a baby with his fiancé and struggles to pay the bills each week.
28-30: He has a full time job, 3
kids, a fat wife and a mortgage he’ll be paying off until he’s 55.
At 45 his wife cheats
on him, but allows her to take half of everything because he's a pussy.
Once his mortgage is
paid off he goes overseas to try to claim back some of the youth he felt is
owed to him.
The life of a man who doesn’t settle down
18-19: Goes to Europe for a few months and develops a taste for freedom.
20-21: Acquires a girlfriend, but still continues to go out and socialise
even if she doesn’t wish to because he doesn’t live by her rules.
22-23: Breaks up with his girlfriend whilst overseas because she continues to try to smother him with requests to stay in and ‘act his age’.
23-28: Avoids any tie downs i.e. house, loans, girlfriends and spends his time
earning money to travel the world.
29-30: He finds a way to earn passive income through projects he works on in his spare time.
31-35: By this time he has travelled to over 50 countries and banged over 100
women.
The rest of his years
are completely up to him. He has enough passive income to continue living the
life he does or if his biological urges are strong enough to have children he can
choose to. Not because of society's pressures, but because he feels everything
he can do whilst youthful has been done.
The difference between
the two men is fear. The ‘settler’ fears breaking the norm will not be welcomed by his
peers. He fears not being good enough for anyone, so he chooses to stick with the first girl that was ever
interested in him.
Fear forces him to map out his life 10 years at a time rather than day by day.
The 'settler' makes his choices out of fear and nothing else.
I know which of the
two I’m working towards.
- Gavin Madden