In a few days, I’ll be turning 20 years old – WTF. To describe how I feel as this day approaches, I would like to quote one of my childhood idols, Britney Spears: “I’m not a girl, not yet a woman.”
In all seriousness, I feel like I’m caught in the middle of growing up and being a kid. College is the first time to be independent. I learned how to walk to class alone, go on CVS runs by myself, do my own laundry, and take care of myself. I learned how to self-motivate; no one was telling me where to go and what to do, but I just had to push myself.
At the same time, I feel like I’m still that kid who needs her parents to help her through it all. Cashing checks, booking flights, calling doctors – these things sometimes just feel too “grown up” for someone who, just two years ago, had to ask her teachers in high school if she could go to the bathroom.
As I approach 20, I’m starting to become sentimental. I’m supposed to be thriving right now – your 20’s are your best years, right? Sometimes I think I’m a 26-year-old stuck in a 20-year-old’s body, and other times I feel like a 13-year-old stuck in that same body. When it comes to immature boys, gossiping girls, sweaty basements, and blackout nights, I sometimes feel like I’m just over it. On the other hand, when it comes to discussing my future, I still haven’t discounted becoming the 6th Spice Girl when I grow up.
As scary as it sounds to be “in my twenties,” I really am excited. From socially peaking in middle school, to quickly being a sophomore here at the University of Michigan, my childhood has raced by. Being 20 is such an in-between age, but I think we just need to own it and make these years live up to their expectations. We need to enjoy being independent in college and in post-grad life; enjoy making right and wrong decisions, and meeting the right and wrong people; enjoy the beginning of adulthood, and the lingering time you have as a teenager. So, aspire to be that 26-year-old in the future and celebrate the 13-year-old that will always be inside you.
Photo courtesy of: http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/turn-up-it-s-my-20th-birthday/