Practical Tips on How to Age Gracefully

Have you ever seen a grown man cry at a festival? Well now you have, thanks to the Menzingers, a punk rock band out of Scranton Pennsylvania. The album art on their record, ‘After the Party,’ is quite emblematic of the themes surrounding the album. Particularly that of upon graduating to a certain age group when well, life just gets real. How can I tell that just by the cover art you may ask? Think of it this way.

We see a slowly balding man having a moment outside either a closed or abandoned carnival show, thinking about his current situation in life. Judging by his posture its safe to say he made some bad choices. Like the roller coaster in the background, in our younger years we may approach life as just a big thrill, not worrying about anything. We hop on the ride so to speak, starting out slow as we learn to walk and talk, centering ourselves in our own little world. As the ride picks up speed symbolizing our elementary and high school years we eventually open our eyes to the wider world around us, at times questioning why we hopped onto this roller coaster of life to begin with as the twists and turns start coming. Ultimately when we literally get thrown for a loop after graduation, we may just want to get off the ride and go back to how things were.

Naturally not all of us are left in tears when we reach adulthood or look back when we reach an elderly age in a state of wistfulness. What condition we’re left in depends on our choices and also the outlook we have on life. We have the power to choose whether to view our situation in a negative or positive light. As evidenced by the grown man on the cover, I think it’s fair to say that he has a nostalgic view of days past and is not satisfied with life as it is. I know I’ve been guilty of this myself, looking behind me instead of what I have in front of me. I’ve come to realize that what I have is actually pretty good, and being present in the moment has many benefits. One of which is being able to move forward in life, as when we constantly look behind we cannot advance in a straight line or at all.

Lyrically the group captures these themes wonderfully, essentially telling the story of a young couple and their struggles bit by bit over the course of the record. Much like the man on the cover they start out happily and gradually get hit by life repeatedly as their actions compound and come back to bite them, at least that’s how I read into it.

Musically the band is a bit different than your average punk band. They employ more creative riffs which leave the individual songs with their own distinct flavor and personality. In my experience, most punk songs, more specifically punk released in the 90’s and early 00’s, largely have the same song structure and similar chords, resulting in the listener having great difficulty in remembering any specific track. On this record however, each recording is memorable in its own right because of both the musical presentation and the relatable lyrical content. Take the song ‘Thick as Thieves’ for instance. There is a riff in there that is at once catchy and in a sense manifests the act of running away by using tremolo picking. That it the act of picking the guitar string rapidly up and down on a single note mimicking in my mind, the legs of a person running rapidly with the singular purpose of escaping. It’s little things like this that go a long way toward making this one of their best albums to date. The Menzingers have left us with a memorable album with relatable themes. Some may wonder though, what are some practical steps we could take so we don’t end up like the man on the album art?

Well it really comes down to principles as opposed to rules, as they can be used no matter the situation, but as we go through life these guidelines can help us to make the most of it in a positive manner. The first of which being, have good friends and associates.

It may seem like a no brainer, but those we spend our time with influence our attitudes, personality, and even our direction in life. If we spend time with those that don’t have their life together well, soon enough our life will resemble theirs. We may not think it will happen to us, but just remember this. How many times have we spent a lot of time with a person, and without realizing it we adopt some of their mannerisms and favorite words? More often than we think I’m certain.

Another principle to live by is to stay humble. Why? Put simply, humility lends itself to accepting counsel and encouraging growth in all areas of life. Pride on the other hand would have you immediately rejecting advice from those that mean you well. As such the saying ‘”pride is before a fall” is highly relevant. Pride does not encourage making wise decisions, and in effect it actually causes you to make more bad ones when heeding advice from well meaning friends may have saved you some trouble.

Lastly, have a sense of purpose and clear values. Having them will not only give you direction in life, but also provide you with overall happiness, more resiliency and identity. If a person does not have clear values of their own, than they are easily swayed by the opinions and or pressures of others. Which in turn can lead into a nasty circle of low self esteem. On the other hand, if a we have clear values, then we are better able to resist certain pressures. For instance, if we have decided for ourselves beforehand not to let’s say smoke, then when offered it is easier to say no as we’ve already made a decision about it. In general this is especially useful for younger ones when resisting peer pressure. If one already knows where they stand and what they value, then in some aspects life becomes a little easier.

There are of course many other great pieces of advice out there I haven’t covered, but thanks to The Menzingers and their in my mind cautionary tale, we can take the story they have on “After the Party” and reflect on our own life meaningfully.

Thanks for reading! What did you enjoy the most from this album?