They say that age is just a number. And that it’s possible for one to have an “old soul.”

But is it possible for a young person to look old, act old and think old?

Why hello there, I’m Susan Kranz. As a junior in college I have the amusing curves and dwindling physical aptitude of a 35-year-old, a ‘do I have to purposely mess up to avoid Mom Hair, hips that pop (not in the cool way), and I spent the past January Interim sipping tea and knitting while Antiques Roadshow played on BBC America, wondering what I should cook my family for dinner once they all arrived home from work. I think the only thing about me that says “Under-40” is my drivers’ license.

Basically, I’m a real catch.

But all modesty aside, what I enjoyed most about this January Interim was that I was free to do whatever I wanted, and I discovered what I did in this time of limited responsibility reflected who I am as a person, even if that person is someone twice my age. I feel it is when we are free from obligations to anyone but ourselves that we express who we really are. Which makes sense, but we don’t always allow ourselves the time to discover it.

This past January was rare for me in that I did not have a job, I wasn’t taking a class, I wasn’t preparing to study abroad, nor did I have anything in particular that needed to get done. It was like a 30-day weekend, except better because normally my weekends here are equally as demanding as my weekdays. I was able to do all the things I had wanted to do, but never made the time as other things always seemed more important.

I held down the Kranz family fort in my grey hoodie and plaid pajama pants. I slept. I ate. I ate a lot. I made Christmas gifts. I gave Christmas gifts. I cleaned through my dresser and discarded lonely socks. I scrapbooked my New York City trip from high school. I cleaned out our wrapping paper and dog food closet. I printed, matted, and framed photos from Ireland. I played some Enya on the piano. I made envelopes out of magazine pages to send amazing people amazing things in the PO’s. I made my family sweet potato fries, chocolate oatmeal cookies, chicken parmesan and roasted red pepper sauce. I organized a photo album for my dog. I read books not required of me to read.

That is not to say I did not see people. Of course I visited friends and was even lucky enough to have one of them stay with me while she had an internship nearby. We adventured and dabbled in the domestic arts (check out her epic facebook album if you know who I am talking about), but that was time with her and others, not time to myself.

So while we still did things both of us enjoyed, and while I still think activities with others are important, I would like to think that what we choose to do individually more accurately enables us to discover our passions.

It is in any task you take on yourself where you learn the most.

For me, there is something really cool about creating stuff. The bringing together of items, of ingredients, of pieces into something complete and existing and tactile is a result you can’t find in watching TV or going for a walk. It is something new, and I made it happen. The creative arts give me an action to do while I think about things as opposed to staring at the wall. Since I usually find most of my crafting materials around my house, I save my money for the finer things in life. I am resourceful, experimental, focused and thoroughly enjoy what I do.

I named this January Interim as a time to pursue my personal creative tasks. For one month I was able to be selfish, to do what I wanted.  I rediscovered my passion for creating things. I can’t say why so many of those activities appear to be those which an older crowd would enjoy, but maybe it’s that they know something we kids don’t: that there’s something to be found in independent artistic endeavors.

As for the physical old agedness, I blame genetics. Somewhere along the line I inherited the inability to stick with one fitness routine for longer than 23 minutes.

Even if you wouldn’t call yourself “creative,” you still need to allow yourself the time to figure out what you are passionate about.  At some point in life you have to ignore other people and do what you actually want. It sounds harsh, and it sounds selfish, but who are you if you don’t even have yourself? Make some free time, stop doing everything and do things because you actually enjoy doing them, not because you feel obligated to do them.