Welcome to the Real World!

It seems that at every turn in life there is someone telling me to get ready for the next step forward.  In middle school I remember taking finals, which counted for very little, because that’s what I would have to do in high school and I should get used to it now.  In high school, things got harder as the teachers tried to prepare us for college.  Once in college I was lectured about there would be no extensions in post-grad work or the real world. 

The real world… this seems to be a phrased that was tossed around a lot in these preparations for the next step in life, as if each move forward brought me closer to this line that I would eventually step over.  Once that happened, it seemed that there would be no turning back and I had better pray that all my prep work paid off.

I’ve encounter this idea of real world in other setting too.  When I worked at camp, there was always this lingo of getting back to the real world once the summer was over.  When I’m on retreats I find this lingo used as well. 

As I try and understand my 22 years of preparation for the real world and my escapes from it, I find myself not fully understanding what constitutes this real world that everyone seems to be talking about.  Is it that I have to work 40 hours a week? That I pay my own bills? Must I live free of parental supervision? Should I be married to gain access? Or perhaps I need children?  Maybe I need to be struggling to make ends meet? Surely then I will understand!  I feel like I’m grasping at straws to figure out when my own life will enter the ranks of those “living in the real world.” 

But, the more I think about it, the more I’m inclined to think that those time in my life that I was being trained for the real world or escaping from the real world are the only real times I’ve actually experienced it.  Places like Outlaw Ranch (my camp), an LVC retreat, a Friday night at Wittenberg, or a family gathering at Thanksgiving are the epitome of what I’ve decided my real world will be about.

The real world is not about supporting yourself but rather supporting others. It is not about how much you can save but how much you can part with.  It is not how much knowledge you have accumulated but the wisdom you can pass on. And the size of your house means nothing compared to the size of your heart.

It turns out I’ve been standing in the midst of the real world all my life and that’s a much easier journey than the maps handed out by society led me to think.