“People Change, It Ain’t Their Fault”

“Growing Up” was written in my dorm room during my freshman year of college at URI. Going to college was a big step in my life; moving away from home for the first time was daunting, but at least I had my friends who would help me move forward. I found that when I got to college I was working harder than I had ever worked before. Between school, music, work, and a host of family issues, my time was stretched thinner than it had ever been. Needless to say, I wasn’t going out as much as my other friends, but I kept my eyes on the prize and kept moving forward. While I wasn’t having as much “fun” as some of my buddies, I was accomplishing my goals and nobody was going to keep me from getting the job done.

At the end of my first semester, I noticed that the people around me were not the same people that they were when we started out together. Normal kids were dropping out, getting addicted to terrible shit, fighting with their friends, and losing touch with who they were when they first got to school. Contrarily, other people I knew were going through some of the worst tragedies that they would have to experience in their lifetimes. The hardest part about all of this was that it was happening to people who were really close to me.

“Growing Up” represented my refusal to adhere to the status quo and a staunch commitment to grow into the man that I wanted to be. I learned that things will inevitably change, but that doesn’t mean that your environment needs to change you. There were several times in my life that I wanted to stop moving forward and stay comfortable in a familiar environment, but I knew that this would ultimately prevent me from continuing on my journey towards adulthood.

A lot of people will tell you to “be yourself,” but I’m going to tell you how. Being yourself means living up to the person who you aspire to be. You start by doing it for a couple of days, then a few weeks, and then a few years. Before you know it, you are that person. You need to “Grow Up” into a person your childhood self would idolize.

 

-Ethan, drummer