Fren, the idea that "Revelation must mean the literal end of this age" thought is very American and due in large part to a guy named John Nelson Darby and his literalist interpretation of Revelation called Dispensationalism, back in the mid-to-late 1800's. That's carried over into mainstream evangelicalism in much of modern America today.
Unfortunately, most of the rest of the world's Christian religions do not agree with that interpretation. Fact is, the Bible is a literary work and (even though it is the true word of God to Christians, including me) it is not always meant to be interpreted strictly literally. There is quite a bit of interpretive text in the Bible. Some of it is merely analogous - Jesus' meaning behind the story of the Talents, for example, which completely debunks the idea that Christ espoused socialist ideas. Others are truly cryptic, and that holds true for Revelation based on the similarities of the literary conventions used in Revelation with other cryptic parts of the text.
The most commonly held interpretation outside of Revelation is that John was speaking metaphorically about Caesar as the anti-Christ due to his persecution of Christians. He spoke in code because the direct criticism of Caesar would have meant his death.
But, double meanings exist in much of that text and lots (but not necessarily all) also serves as analogies to the end of this age.
Remember that throughout history, every generation's Christians thought they had reached the "end times".
Live your life like you are end the end times, sure. But keep in mind, God wants you to actually LIVE. Save the sackcloth and ashes for when it's needed - it's not a daily thing.
And take heart…so what if the end times are 1000 years from now? That means that we're supposed to WIN.
So, let's saddle up and ride, Breh.