Random Topic Generator: Responsibility(ies)

I decided to mix things up a bit. Instead of a film or a TV episode, I thought I’d talk about something I’ve been storing on my mind for some time and has only just started pushing its way to the front. This week is the perfect opportunity for me to talk about responsibilities and how they slowly pile on, creeping up on you unexpectedly, and only when you release how many you’ve got do you start buckling under their weight until you’ve figured out how to manage them properly. Then, once you finally have them all of them under control, that only allows for more to pile on. By sorting them all out, organising them wisely and making sure you’ve got enough time to do everything, including relax, more responsibilities bundle you and take up the time you’re supposed to be relaxing; the process starts again, and doesn’t stop turning.

Being 23, if I were to say I’ve got a far too many responsibilities to be going on with to anyone older, they’ll laugh at me. And yet, I can laugh at someone younger than me who says the same. Does that make sense? Well, the short answer is yes. The long answer will basically come to the same conclusion except with a bit more explanation hopefully.

I expected August to be hectic, and I fully prepared myself – or so I believed I had. I knew what I needed to do, and how to do it on what day. However, when it came to executing said plans, that’s when I realised I hadn’t prepared myself as much as I should have. Without having to detail everything that has happened so far this month because that would simply be too long an article, basically speaking, it’s certainly a new experience, and has opened my eyes to just how much responsibility I have taken on, and has allowed me to accept that they’ll only be more.

When we’re in school, the majority of us are only responsible for making sure our work is done, our homework is done, and any chores we’re tasked to do around the house. If you had pets, you would be told that they’ll your responsibility so you must look after it. Looking after a pet is hard work when you’re younger, but it does teach so much during the process. As we grow older, the school works get harder, homework gets plentiful, and many other outside chores start piling up. During the first half of high school, it’s nearly a mirror image of that of primary school, just a lot harder. During the second half, when you’re tasked to choose what lessons you want to take for the future, what college you want to go to and then make sure that you get a placement – and once we’re in college, the atmosphere changes drastically. It’s not a mirror image of high school, but a much more open environment. You are responsible for completing your work, whether in class or at home, but all the while you’re growing older and becoming closer and closer to becoming an adult. But for the main part, during your educational years, making sure you’ve gotten the grades you want for the career you want is pretty much all you need to do.

As soon as you leave education, or move to university – both are synonyms of each other as both involve stepping out into the big wide world for the first time, and that’s when the real responsibility starts hitting you.

I’m 23, and I was laughed at by someone older when I said I was straining slightly under the amount I had to do. I’m not saying they’re rude and I don’t want to say they’re wrong. However, what I am saying is that they’re remembering what it was like when they were my age, with how little I have to do compared to their unending list of tasks. By way of organising them efficiently just proves that my list is finite, and they’re only wishing to have that once more, but will never again have that. Being 23, I’m still fairly new to the big wide world, and in my own way, learning to adjust and accept more and more tasks and learning as I go.

This article is in no way an outlet for my whining because I believe I’ve got too many responsibilities and all I want to do is sit back on my backside all day and watch TV, play games, and let things get done by themselves. I’m pointing out how my eyes were opened this month about how gradual things change – so gradually that sometimes you don’t notice it until you’re feeling stressed, or you realise you simply don’t have the time to do everything in, so have to work around certain things, and set a day to do this, that, or the other, just so you can ignore it for a while whilst focusing on everything else you have to do. I no doubt will unintentionally laugh at someone my age a few years from now as I think back on this month and relish in how free I was – but if I had organised my responsibilities in a specific way according to the system I’ll develop later on now, things would obviously be a lot easier and I would know just how much time I do have to relax and watch TV and play games.

If I were back in primary school and looked at the list of things I’d will eventually be required to do, my eyes would pop out of their sockets with surprise and I would ultimately dismiss such a future. I can say the same now, whilst carrying out that future list I saw in primary school. And I’ll continue to say it every few years.

I mistakenly said whilst rubbing my temple, "sometimes I wonder if I'm any good at this responsibility lark", and they laughed and said, "you don't know what responsibility is." From their perspective, no I don't. From my perspective, yes I do, but I now know just how much I still have to learn.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)