Read this to the tune of "Please don't stop the music".
Now, allow me to ruminate on something that I've been wanting to speak on for a while...Life After 30...Nightlife That Is.
I get it. This was the way it was supposed to go down: go to school, get a job, get married, have kids & settle down were all supposed to happen by the time you hit 30...mainly because most of us would be dead by the time we hit 50. There's this cultural more that says you MUST have your life figured out and charted on a specific course or you're a failure. So when people like me hit you up and say "yoooo, the club tonight!" sometimes your answer is:
"I'm too old for that".
No, no you're not. This is what I tell my friends whenever they start talking about how they've outgrown "the club scene". Since the club scene is incredibly diverse in it's offerings, I assume they are talking about out-growing the "rites of passage" that all of us endure once we hit puberty.
Sneaking drinks at family functions, becomes joining red cup nation at some frat party, becomes going to whatever Richmond st club you can sneak into with your fake ID, becomes raging at Guv, becomes wanting to "party with classier people", becomes "omg, it's still the same shit, just with credit cards, nicer clothes, more bald spots and fake tits", becomes "dinner at nice restaurants with friends and hopefully a date that can afford this shit" becomes "fuck this, I'm killing a bottle (or 3) of wine at home, becomes "hmmmm, so I can actually meet someone who isn't a serial killer on this website?!".
Combine all of the above with lacklustre entertainment options at the club, tired tropes of rude bouncers, long lines for no reason and shitty service and hell yes, getting hammered with close friends in the comfort of someone's home or a neigbbourhood bar does seem like the better (and cheaper) option...but even that gets stale.
The fact is, it's in our nature to socialize. No matter how "advanced" we become, we're still naked apes in search of comfort & safety, huddling together in the dark. We've only "advanced" in that we now have it set to funky beats.
So you know you wanna hit the club, but a) you don't wanna deal with the aforementioned headaches (figurative and literal) and b) you feel like "you're too old for that".
Stop it. Stop it right now. Listen to Jay-Z (he's married to Beyonce, that's gotta count for something). You're young. Your brain has just recently stopped developing. You're employed, you're attractive, you're healthy and you're single and there are also great bars, clubs, lounges & people like me (your at play ambassador..get it?) that know where you should go to avoid all the headaches except the one that follows a great night out. Plus it's Saturday night. Why wouldn't you hit the club for some fun? Because society says not to? Please.
Thankfully we're in a unique point in history where societal norms are being challenged & disrupted in numerous ways, most of it brought along by technological and medical advances that have given us everything from greater freedom to longer lives.
The world is becoming smaller & we're becoming more connected, yet we still seem to find ourselves as disconnected as ever, probably because all these new people, places & things don't fit neatly into our preconceived notions & cultural chains.
The good news in all of this is that with this increased life expectancy and freedom, we still have time to figure it all out. We're living longer, more fuller lives and at 30, you have the advantage of experience! Combine that with disposable income & great health, this should be the time when life gets really good! This is the time when you're young enough to still have fun and old enough to know just how much of it you should be having.
Life doesn't stop after 30, so why should the party?
KB
