I don’t know about you, but I’m not feeling 22.
I know that’s not how the Taylor Swift song goes, but it just doesn’t seem possible that I turned 22 this month. For as long as I can remember, I always associated being 22 with being an adult and having your life together since for many people, it’s the age that they graduate college, which will be the case with me as well.
I had this vivid picture in my mind of an apartment, a full-time job, a thriving social life, a fat bank account, and the means to travel the world.
While some of these things may be true and others are quite far fetched (at least for now), I laugh at how excited I was to become an “adult,” as if everything magically becomes easier because of some number.
When we’re younger, adults tell us that growing up is not all it’s cracked up to be and we never believe them because all we can think about is freedom: What would life be like without rules or homework?
But as the old saying goes: with freedom comes responsibility. So instead of heeding one another’s advice, kids can’t wait to be adults and adults wish they could be kids again.
As I’m sure many people have guessed by now, as a kid, I was completely wrong about all of it. Just because I turned 22 doesn’t mean I miraculously now know everything about life or that the future suddenly becomes clear. I’m still just as confused as I was when I was 16 about many things, and I’m sure I will be for the rest of my life because none of us ever really have it figured it out; we’re all just chugging along and trying the best that we can.
I guess I thought that I would feel older when I hit this milestone, but most people will say that we never truly feel older; instead, we just are because our birthday tells us so.
Now this is not meant to be a nostalgic post; instead it’s meant to remind us all that our age is simply just a number and that the future holds just as many amazing possibilities as the positives we remember from our past. As a result, I’ve decided that I’m going to experience life in all of its facets as I continue to get older instead of associating certain feelings or accomplishments with a particular age.
So here’s to 22 and all the years ahead!