A Life Less Mediocre

A quarter or a mid? Not sure if it fits either. Is there an in-between? Perhaps mid if you want to get technical and be precise with the actual number. But then again, the concept of mid seems just a little too advanced. Oh yeah, way too advanced for me. Surely.

What am I talking about? Well, I've been contemplating again. And yes, I know I do it a lot. But that's me. I can't help it. So I've been contemplating my life lately and while its not a crisis or anything, I have been having thoughts that others may point to as the foundation of a mid-life or quarter-life crisis.

Now I'm not saying I'm having one of them. Not at all. A lot of these thoughts live with me no matter what and no matter where I sit on the ageing timeline. I guess its just dawned on me how average or mediocre my life seems at times. In comparison to people I see in documentaries, the news and the like. I just feel so bloody average. Doing a stocktake:

• aged in middle 30s with my glory days behind me and only middle age to look forward to
• thoroughly middle class background with my offspring likely to have the very same middle class background
• decent paying wage for doing a decent job but certainly not rich and its certainly no dream job
• nice house in a middle-ringed suburb but not in love with it and wouldn’t mind being closer in
• good car which does the job for the family but nothing special and with no fancy mod cons
• catch public transport to work and read a book or listen to music
• pretty fit compared to most my age and love a run, swim or surf, but not outstanding at any of them
• like current affairs and politics but not too much as they annoy and depress me at times
• like my footy and a good beer but not too much as they hurt (physically and emotionally) and hangover me at times
• like a good book and a good movie but finding the time for either is tough
• like good music and discovering anything new, but very tough to get to live gigs these days

Maybe its just a symptom of our bland, white-bread, trim-milk lives here in western society. I've spoken before of our political dynamic where we really do come across as a bunch of whingers because really, we have no life-death struggles in this country and the things that matter come so easily to us. So we complain because we have to complain about something; so its traffic and tolls, its phone companies and internet connections, its the tradies who are doing our renos. Real first world problems.

I'm no different. But that's the problem. I seem to be so 'normal' in those circumstances. So average. So middle range. Where once I travelled the world and lived in some of the busiest cities, but now I live in the suburbs of Brisbane. Where once I dreamed of being a war/foreign correspondent and jumping from story to story, but now I write briefing papers about industry development policy and infrastructure business cases.

Yep, things have changed since my more adventurous 20s. But I'm certainly not saying for the worse. I have so much to be thankful for and the most prominent one being my own family with beautiful and amazing son. I just wish there was a bit more adventure in my life. A bit more spontaneity. A bit more 'extra' in ordinary rather than just plain ordinary.

I'm not alone in all this I'm sure. Hence the reason we even have the concept of a midlife or quarterlife crisis. Then again, it is nice to have that luxury isn't it? You probably don't get people living in the slums of Manilla or amongst the dirt of Ethiopia complaining about these largely self-indulgent things. I'm sure they'd have no problems at all living an average, normal or middle range life like many of us.

Most definitely another first world problem then. So I'll just shut up and go back to my white bread sandwich and flat white with trim milk. Perspective god dammit!!!

EDM.