This past weekend, I have entered a new decade of my life, and I learned that turning 20 is probably the most daunting experience I will ever have in my life. Along with the happy birthday wishes, I also got the “don’t take this age for granted” or “this is going to be the best part of your life” additions.
Hearing those words made me pause and reflect on what this new chapter truly means.
I’m someone who feels like everything needs to be planned before it even happens, but I’ve been sort of depending on “being a teenager.” Teenagers never have anything figured out, but adults (seemingly) do. How is my life going to change in these 10 years? I already feel so behind, but I haven’t even started.
Turning 20 feels like standing on a bridge between adolescence and adulthood. I realized I’m not the only one on this boat filled with both anticipation and uncertainty, where the excitement of independence mixes with the pressure of responsibility. There’s a strange comfort in realizing that while I may not have everything figured out, I am learning to trust myself more with each passing year. This age feels like an invitation to take risks, grow, embrace the unknown rather than fear it.
Although stepping into my twenties feels intimidating, it also feels full of potential. It is the beginning of a decade that will shape who I am and who I will become. And maybe that’s what makes it both terrifying and beautiful—the understanding that life’s most defining moments often come from the seasons we fear the most.