While most music lovers know Bastille for their single Pompeii, I gravitated to their song Oblivion. It is a far cry from the catchy tune you’d hear in a club or on a dance floor with piano and cello instrumentals in the background and a quieter, somber mood. But with verses like “Are you going to age with grace?/Are you going to age without mistakes?/Are you going to age with grace?/Or only to wake and hide your face?”, I find myself asking those questions every day lately.
Have I aged with grace? Aged without mistakes? Sadly, I feel I have not – the past few years have opened my eyes to the realities and truths about the world, working in the professional world, and the people I’ve encountered in my life. All of the years haven’t been without struggles, personal growth, and some raw emotion, particularly pain from personal loss and frustration from trying to distinguish a clear voice for myself.
The funny thing is, I caught up with an old friend from my college days earlier in 2014 and he commented that I hadn’t changed much since he last saw me in 2011. I would argue though that while my quirks and behaviors have hardly changed, I don’t feel that I am the same girl that was starting out in an internship with an art museum before her third year of college, let alone the same girl who started her internship with her childhood dream company last January.
It is safe to assure everyone that I have no regrets about my choices and the decisions I’ve made in the past few years. Instead, I look ahead to what lies ahead and keep those questions from Bastille in the back of my mind as “oblivion calls out my name”.
Your Smile is Priceless 