THEUNSTABLELEMENT
a place for travel, culture and life stories
EVERYBODY’S CHANGING
Yesterday, just like every other year, I set off with my family on our big road trip down south, destination Puglia. Puglia is a region in the far south of Italy, with stunning landscapes, ridiculously good and affordable food and inhumanly high temperatures. Know how Italy is shaped like a boot? We’re talking heel here. Now you know.
That said, my story is actually centred on something else. As we were driving, a song that I know too well came on the radio: Everybody’s Changing, by Keane, a timeless classic that every 90’s kid knows and loves. Along with Somewhere Only We Know and This Is The Last Time, it’s safe to say this song chanted the notes of our childhoods, shaping us for who we are and to some extent dictating our growth into (kind of) functioning adults.
“So little time
Try to understand that I’m
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody’s changing and I don’t feel the same”
I remember listening to this song and feeling like it was supposed to speak to me, telling of a situation that was so common to many of us, especially in our teenage years while we were still trying to figure out who we were and what we wanted to become. I remember I used to have a crush in High School and I pictured him as the perfect subject for it: a timeless child with a fear of growing up, of changing, tightly holding onto things that were inevitably destined to change. I saw it as a sort of literary character that was being vindicated by the song, somehow excusing the behaviour under the pretest of romanticism.
Yet, I somehow could not connect to the song myself. I remember struggling so hard to put myself into the singer’s shoes, actually understanding how and why he was finding it so difficult to change, when I was constantly striving to change, improve myself for the better. Perhaps because my travels opened up my mind more than some of my peers, perhaps because of my love for reading of far away times, societies and lands, perhaps because of my never ending search for something which could actually make me feel complete, I was always on the lookout for a new thing to try out, a new experience to dive into. Eventually, this is also what made me realise my crush of the time was actually not the person I was looking for in my life, nor he could ever be. Because our mentalities were just on opposite ends.
Sometimes we feel like time is running out of our hands, I personally feel like it all the time and this constantly causes stress in my life. It’s not without reason that one of my favourite songs is Vienna by Billy Joel, a song which talks about trying to do everything at once, so fast, scared we might not have the time to do it later on. A song which lets you know that it’s okay to move a bit slower, because even later in life you will still have loads of opportunities to feel happy and fulfilled. It’s a song which calms me down when I am feeling absolutely nerve-wrecked, giving me peace of mind and a sense of security towards my future.
However, I never understood and I guess never will understand Keane fully. Although I do feel like life is choking me up at times, I still feel the constant need to change, to somehow twist my routine, philosophy and frame of mind according to the new experiences that I face in life. It is good to have stability but it also good to not be stale, a timeless being too scared to move forward. What good comes from it, as everyone else evolves and you remain stuck in a present that no longer exists? Which, I am guessing, is the point of the song and the fear behind it.
Either way, I have always had this idea and thought I’d share it with you guys, to see if someone else shares my same point of view. I would also like to have feedback from people who actually see themselves in the song, because I’d love to have a deeper look into it. Who knows, I might have had it all wrong all these years!
As always, I hope you’re all having a great day and that you are working on yourself everyday.
All the best
Elena
Hi! My nickname is Nana. You can call me Nina. The real one is neither of those two.
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