youth is wasted on the young

The twenties are the hardest. In your twenties, you're old enough to love, and to hurt.  In your twenties, you're mature enough to learn the love is about a bigger connection of the souls. In your twenties, you're young enough to give love up for dreams that seem eminent.

The twenties are a time for love because you're young and reckless and full of passion. You meet a soul whose light shines right into your heart, and you're fall hopelessly in love. In between exploring strange new words in your lecture notes, you explore the unfamiliar nooks of each other's bodies. You love with a wild fire, fueled by a spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical connection. You feel your fingers entwined in his and you are convinced you have melted into his entire being, perfectly aligned in every single plane of existence. 

The twenties are not a time for love because you're young and reckless and full of passion. You graduate and grow out of yourself and fall out of love. In between exploring different jobs and career paths, you explore the unfamiliar notion of your newfound single self. You love with the half-fucked attitude that our generation is so fond of, fueled by the fear of vulnerability and commitment. You feel your legs entwined with his and you are convinced you have to move on in a day, a week, a month, a year. 

You see, the rules of the modern dating game is such that there will always be winners and losers, and no one wants to be caught on the losing end. We are all afraid of saying too much, texting too much, caring too much, loving too much. We don't know where we will end up in a day, a week, a month, a year. That's the freedom of youth and that's the price we pay. How do you begin to think about building a life together with someone else when you're tumbling through the universe in free fall? In the random and haphazard course of your twenties, you might one day stumble upon a beautiful stranger whom you share a smile, a touch, a night, an eternity. But you're only infinite in this moment. Then we move on, chasing dreams and ambitions and destinations that we will never quite arrive at. 

And this is youth. Too often, they say youth is wasted on the young. We are too busy trying to be invincible that we forget how to be vulnerable. We kiss without meaning and we forget how to cry at night. We are a generation who have forgotten how to love, and often when we realise, it is much too late.