They always use the prase "out in the real world" in school... don't believe them!
You're already there, it never changes, the powers that be just keep sucking at you... there's no escape!

Enjoy the now.... now is all you'll ever have!

makes me wanna scream at the top of my lungs. which is hard, because the first time I heard this song (about 10 minutes ago) i had (and still have) a ridiculous cold/sore throat/sick from school kinda thing.

heard it on the radio, bought it on itunes, looked on songmeanings.com for the lyrics/what other people thought of it. makes me wanna get up and dance.

i wanna run through the halls of my high school
i wanna scream at the top of my lungs...ahh it makes me so happy

okay i have more to say now. this song gives me a music high.
also, i would like to tell everyone that im in eighth grade, and my school is quite small so i dont have much chance to run through its halls. oh well.
the first line kind of reminds me f all those movies where the promising young singer/artist/designer/architect/whatever goes to his/her first job interview/job. he/she is really confident about him/herself and is really psyched for their first day, then is handed a pile of paperwork. "I thought I would be doing important stuff. You know, like [whatever they were expecting to do--record music, paint, design...]" Then the boss says, condescendingly, "Welcome to the real world." its just like that.
i have to say though, I really do not like John Mayer. I don't think he does well in live performances, and his voice is *okay*. So the $64,000 question is, why am I making all these comments on his song?
Well, I wouldn't be if I didn't love his music so much. :)

'they love to tell you "stay inside the lines"
but something's better on the other side'

when i was little, i would always go over to my neighbor's house with my sister, (this neighbor is more like a grandparent) and my neighbor's sister would always be like "stay inside the lines, val" while i was coloring all over the place, meanwhile, my sister's would be perfect, inside the lines, realistic colors and everything.

it's strange how the smallest things can mirror some of the biggest things in our lives.

I didn't take the time to read all of the posts here, but I don't think this song is primarily about being "nonconformist" or whatever. It's fairly clear that there is an element of nonconformity but more importantly this song is about being comfortable doing things your own way even if it isn't the popular way. The perspective that I see in this song is one of somebody who is about 22 or 23 and in college or who just finished with college and is really developing into their own person and accepting that.

All through high school and most of college people discount you like you aren't a part of the real world because you are still in school and aren't really part of the "real world" yet. You aren't out there in a career or working 40+ hours a day with full adult responsibilities.

In college and even to some degree high school, people are always trying to get you to "take a seat and plot your life in black and white..." pick a major, a career, and set your life up before you've even had any experience or really lived life! That's the "right" track, but few people ever do this successfully and are actually happy in doing so. I think the point of the song is you don't have to do it that way. At that point in life, everybody is looking for answers, some are looking in books, some were prom kings or drama queens, or whatever else. You can live your life and make a plan and try and stay inside the lines, or you can get out there and live life and really find out what life is about. The people who do this are going to be far happier and better off then those who sort of walk the prescribed path.

I think that the main character or narrator of this song has done that and realizes that the whole process is a sham and that living life is what it is all about, and doing things your own way is all that really matters. There is no such thing as the real world and all of this responsibility and heavy handedness that everyone always references, there really is only yourself and your life and whatever you want to make of it.

Sorry if this rant made no sense, but I think the song has much more of an existentialist slant than simply being about not conforming.

its about high school and how they tell u to be just like everyone else

one of his best songs!!!!!!