I feel that I’m at the cusp of a new phase in life. It’s particularly exciting because my phases in life, just like the seasons of the year, are usually very difficult to capture as they are changing and instead require retrospection (just like some time needs to pass before an event can be taught in history classes). This is because a phase in life is a combination of many small events and decisions, each one of which changes frequently and smoothly. To see a phase in life changing requires one to predict a trend based on the observations of the current changes. I, however, party because I’ve been thinking about life phases and what makes them so distinct, have been lucky to have noticed indications of a new trend. These indications are often very subtle, but representative of a larger change.

For one, I’m beginning to be more open to be going to NYC. I haven’t really been in New York very much this past summer–perhaps four, five times in three months, compared with going three times a week half a year ago. Most of it is probably due to me not having a car, but I’m also realizing that this is a bit of an excuse–since there is more than one way to get to the City than with your own car. Over the past few weeks I’ve been thinking more about who I could be meeting up with, where I could be going and what I could be exploring in the City. Perhaps, in a way, I miss going there? (Of course, superficial reasons do exist as well–I have a car now, which I like driving, so that provides a good excuse to start going to the City more). Similarly, I’m considering taking more trips to Boston this fall–some of my closest friends are there, and yesterday’s trip there made me realize how much fun road trips are (and how much fun it is to go somewhere relatively far away, even if for a day).

Another subtle change is in my decision to listen to music more. For the past nine months I’ve been almost exclusively sticking to audiobooks and podcasts and I’m beginning to move away from that. For one, it’s much more fun to run when you’re listening to music (audiobooks, for example, may be dull, and even podcasts lack the beat to keep you motivated to run). I’ve also realized that what music I listen to is a great indicator of my life phase–as I’ve reflected on my past phases, I could easily point to some song, or band that reminds me of each phase. This kind of compression (an entire life phase compressed down to one song) is a very easy way to ensure that I don’t forget what phases I went through, even if those phases are difficult to describe. It also shows the power of music, which is able to convey priceless information; something that a page of text will struggle with. This new appreciation of music (and the desire to listen to music so as to generate more representatives for the future me to remember the phase I’m in) causes me to go back to the iPod. Finally, as I spend more time with my closest friends, we listen to music that we all like, and this music creates a kind of shared context that we like to go back to.

These changes are very much linked to the change in seasons: I need to listen to music more because running indoors is boring otherwise; spending time in the City is linked to the temperatures dropping and me not being able to spend much time outside (for example, riding my bike). I love driving in October–the Merritt is incredibly scenic, and being in a car isolates you from the low temperature. Finally, there is something that draws me to spending time in bars and restaurants with my friends when it gets dark quickly, and now that October is almost upon us, such will be the reality.

These two changes — how much I listen to music and how likely I am to go to NYC or Boston — may be fairly small but I have seen them to be leading indicators of a new phase in my life. It’s a fun discovery (if it’s true–it’s quite possible that these will not be representative indicators now; time will tell), but since phases in life just happen, there’s no point elaborating on them too much, getting too sentimental, or trying too hard.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 28th, 2009 at 00:04 and is filed under changes/cyclical. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.