Which part of life would you choose?

I was talking to my mother yesterday and we started this topic of which part of life is the best. I said none and here's why.

Note: This is not meant to be sad or depressing post. We talked about it with smiles on our faces so I hope this will cheer you up (in some weird way) rather than put you down. Also, this is my point of view.

Starting with being a baby, we're not so aware of what's going on around us. Although we're being fed and washed and everybody loves us, we're not getting much out of it. If nothing, we don't remember anything from our baby years.

Next there's kindergarten or preschool or granny's place where we spend most of the time. I had the luck of my grandparents looking after me, so I wasn't forced to sleep in the afternoon or to eat something I didn't like. Also, I grew up with my brother and a couple of great friends so my days were kinda perfect. But if you're going to kindergarten or preschool, you're forced, at very young age, to do stuff somebody else says you should do and you don't understand why. Why would I sleep when I have all the energy in the world?

After that, there's elementary school. We're taught bunch of new stuff, we're with your friends all day long. That's great (if you have friends). But we're also taught to obey everything teachers say, to do whatever they want us to do. We're taught to be quiet and sit there. Again, being still and concentrated is quite hard when all we want is to play outside.

Hello, high school. Oh God. There's so much pressure on kids in high school to have good grades, to party a lot, to be good looking, to have some hobbies, to play sport,... To be perfect. Because we're kinda growing up the most in high school and it's expected from us to be the best. All the schoolwork was killing me. Yeah, the first thing I wanna do when I get home is homework... Also, everybody is treating us like kids, but we feel much older and wiser and there's our biggest problem.

Yay, I got into college. Now what? Again, so much pressure. This is our life now. We are so pressured to do the best because this will define our career. Great. I don't know if I was ever more stressed than in college. And when we finish it all, we realize we shouldn't have been so nervous, but it's too late now. I have started losing hair and I see some grays in there...

Finally a job! Paycheck! Hala! Shopping and traveling all day, all night. Yeah, unless we're living with our parents (which would be great btw), there are bills and food. And all other small stuff we didn't have to worry when we were younger.

Family time! Now all the worries start again because it's not just us anymore. We have more people to look after and it's freaking stressful. We work full time, come home, cook, clean, do homework, play and still need to have some us time which is usually non-existent.

Oh how sweet is retirement. Not really. We have the time, and maybe the will to do stuff we planned on doing since we were 10, but we're too old. Everything hurts and we can barely walk. And, like that's not enough, incomes are much smaller than our paycheck used to be (unless you're a millionaire).

My mom said she loved the time between getting a job and having a family the best! She was living with her parents, she had her own money, but shouldn't have worry about all the house stuff and the bills.

• ♥

In which stage are you right now? Are you loving it? Which is in general your favorite part?