For those of you who are already 18, you may laugh at this, or perhaps even think; 'God, get over it.', if you're the sort who 'doesn't suffer fools' then I suggest closing this tab/window right now, because what you're going to read in this blog post will be nothing short of nostalgic and unapologetically over-the-top mush.
Tomorrow, I'll turn 18. The world will continue to turn, there will be no marching bands, no applause, no 'formal announcement'. I myself will be the same person I was when I woke up this morning. I will not miraculously grow a few inches overnight, my years of abusing food, particularly chocolate, will not catch up to me overnight and leave me incapable of rolling out of bed (as I've joked before) and I won't have the perfect hair/skin/figure etc I imagined I'd have by now. Nothing will change. My 'childhood' will end, and that's that.
A part of me imagines that becoming an adult is impossible for someone with the mental maturity of a ten-year-old such as myself. Perhaps Peter Pan will appear tonight, apologize for being eight years late and send me on my merry way to Neverland to replace Wendy. Perhaps Edward Cullen will stop staring at me sleep (creeper) and decide to turn me finally turn me. I pray that if the latter occurs, you'll take pity on me and chop me up as soon as you see even a hint of sparkly skin in the sunlight. Check if it's glitter first though, yeah?
Today, for the first time, I thought about the things I've learned in my 18 years of life. I thought about my achievements, my friends, my goals, everything that made me..well, me. Perhaps I'll describe my reasoning behind these to you in more detail in another blog, but for now you'll get the short and sweet summation of my life and what I've learned.
1. You're gonna lose and make a lot of friends in your life. People change and outgrow each other.
2. Being 'Different' doesn't necessarily mean being yourself.
3. Caring about what people think about you is literally the biggest time waster.
4. Putting up with shit from someone you like/are in a relationship with is never worth it.
5. You're probably not gonna marry the person you like/are dating right now.
6. Appreciate what you have in life, there are people who are so much happier with a lot less.
7. Stop worrying about being forgotten, the people that matter will never forget you.
8. Getting up at 5AM for an interview for a Travel Award in Dublin is absolutely, 100% worth it.
9. Just accept it, you're always gonna start writing a project/extended essay the day before it's due.
10. Every action has a consequence. If you can't handle that then you seriously need to thinking about the way you're acting.
11. Treating people like shit gets you nowhere.
12. For God Sake, smile once in a while.
13. Nothing lasts forever, learn to say goodbye.
14. My heart will always belong to Vermont.
15. If you want something, you have to go out and get it/do it/make it. Nobody is going to do it for you.
16. Happiness is not a circumstance, it's a frame of mind.
17. If you can stand in front of a crowd and speak without feeling even the slightest hint of butterflies in your tummy, you're doing something wrong.
18. Life moves on. There's no stopping it.
And that's it. There's so much more to learn, so much more to see and do, but for now I'm happy. I thought writing this blog post would terrify me even more about becoming an adult, that I'd cry and beg to go back to the days when Santa was real, the Tooth Fairy was my only source of income and when being 'like, twelve' was a compliment cause it meant I looked older than I actually was.
If you found this a waste of time, if this little blog post frustrated you with it's idealistic, overly positive and perhaps clichéd views, then suck it up. I did warn you.
PS. I'll leave my window open a crack for you tonight, Peter. :')
No comments:
Post a Comment