They said that turning 18 signifies becoming an adult, and instantly your life changes. Maybe I was a bit late, but for me the day I turned 20 years old it felt as if I was thrown down a swirling dark drain. I realized that I was in my twenties, I was no longer a teenager, and I had absolute control over my path in life no matter what I wanted it to be… and that terrified me. I had a fair idea of what I wanted to do with my life after University, but barely had a grip on who I really was. This was probably not the smartest way to start my senior year.
As a kid I had this bright idea of who I was going to be as an adult, and now that I am an adult, I realize that you don’t just change into this complete stranger of an idea overnight. Until I can get over this quarter-life crisis and accept that I’m growing older at a more fast pace than I anticipated, I have to just accept the way things are moving, and find out who I am.
I realized that I never really had the stereotypical teenage high school experience. I lived in a very small town with 18 kids in my graduating class, never snuck out of my house, didn’t have a boyfriend, never threw or went to any huge house parties, and this made me feel like I completely missed out. I believed that I would never get those years back. If you think about it, most people did not even get to do the things that these Hollywood movies make us believe our teens are actually like. We never really missed out, and I don’t think anyone really wants to go back and do-over high school anyway…
Figuring out my identity puts a lot of my “adulting” worries at ease. Thanks to some online personality quizzes such as the Myers Brigg’s Type Indicator and the Enneagram Test, I started to get an understanding of my personality in a more detailed way. These tests have helped find out what motivates me, what I am sensitive to, and how I respond to situations. Through these tests I realized that there are other people who think like me, reassuring me that I am not strange for being more introverted, or more in touch with feelings than judgment. The more research I’ve done on personality, the more I love it and love who I am.
Once I figured out who I am I realized I have strong opinions on certain subjects, and the greatest part of being an adult now is that more people actually respect these opinions. Instead of having fear of gaining age, I have excitement for gaining experience. Putting this all together why should we be in a crisis, we should be excited.
Our twenties are the most exciting moments of our lives, and so much change is going to happen that instead of worrying who I am and what I want to do, I should just accept that whatever the outcome. I’ll become who I am supposed to become. There is no need to swim against the current and dive into an existential crisis when you can just ride it out instead.