I just turned twenty years old, and I feel simultaneously terrified and thrilled. Transitioning into this new decade has made me reflect on my teenage years and think about the person I want to be in the coming years. By sharing these things, hopefully you will be able to find something to relate to so you don’t have to feel alone as you navigate through these new waters in life!
As a teenager, I went through many stages. At thirteen, I was a social butterfly. I loved to have sleepovers, and I loved to hang out with friends after school. Life was so simple during this time – my biggest worry in the world was whether or not my middle school crush would ask me to the school dance. At sixteen, things got more complex. I still had many friends, but life didn’t feel so bright and blissful anymore. I had to learn how to deal with the stress of high school drama, managing feelings of anxiety, and start to think about what I might want to pursue for the rest of my life. However, now I was able to drive a car, and have a new sense of freedom I never had before … it was exciting! At eighteen and nineteen, things started to look different. Now, I’m living on my own at college and I am solely responsible for every single minor and major decision I make. At the end of my teenage years, I started to recognize the shifts that were occurring that ultimately could be defining in this new decade of life.
If I had to describe my teenage years in two words it would be these: heartbreak and growth. It sounds slightly negative at first, but these words are exactly what is going to propel me into my first years of my 20s. Let me explain. For me, my teenage years were filled with drastically different experiences. With every year and experience that passed, I had to break away from what I previously had and grow into something new. At the first, these experiences were trivial; it really wasn’t a big deal if my middle school crush didn’t want to go with me to the dance. But with each passing year, experiences would become more important; I lost people that I cared deeply for or I began to feel lost in knowing where I belonged in this world.
The most exciting thing about this; however, is that with each one of these “heartbreaks” I rose and grew into someone wiser and stronger. This is precisely the difference I want to make as I transition into my 20s. As I turn twenty, I now realize that my life is only going to get more complex. It’s terrifying yet liberating to know that my twenties will be hard, but when I look back, I know that the heartbreaks that I am about to endure will be what will make me into the strong woman I will be (and you will be!) at twenty-nine.