The first "Game of Thrones" book. Bill Clinton’s second presidential campaign. The pop singer Lorde. The cloning of Dolly the sheep. DVDs. "Matilda." Twister. “The Macarena." The Nintendo 64. "Pokemon." What do they all have in common? They’re 20 years old.
And guess what?
So are you!
Congratulations, my ‘96 babies -- you’re 20 years old, 7,300 days old, 1,043 weeks old, 240 months old, two decades old, one fifth of a century old -- YOU’RE GETTING OLD.
Okay, not really.
But hey, you survived the teens, and you’re officially an adult -- kind of. You might still live with your parents and maybe have never done taxes in your life -- seriously, what are taxes?
Every 20-year-old has similar struggles and worries -- the relatability of being 20 years old is that struggles and worries are the main theme of your life. College. Student loans. To grad school or not to grad school? Apartments. Roommates. Minimum wage. Careers. Yeah, it kind of sucks, but once you have at least a plan of how to survive and you’re not living behind a dumpster, it gets better.
So here are 20 things that pretty much every 20-year-old can relate to.
- You feel really old when talking to high schoolers.
- You know exactly what kind of pet you want once you can afford one.
- But you can’t afford one.
- You can’t name all of the members of One Direction or 5 Seconds of Summer. You don’t even know how many members there are…
- Bank accounts confuse you.
- New slang like “lit” and “finna” confuses you.
- You’re an adult. And that confuses you.
- You start saying “when I was your age” to kids.
- Naps, man. They’re great.
- If you don’t have a job, people judge you.
- If you’re in college, you’re probably halfway done. And when did that happen?
- You feel qualified to give college advice.
- You probably have an established laundry schedule -- if you don’t, you probably need one.
- You’re really over emojis. But you still use them.
- Making friends is exhausting.
- You’re exhausted.
- If you want to do anything, you need a car.
- But. You can’t. Afford one.
- Anyone over 30 still thinks you’re a tiny child.
- If you say any of this to someone over the age of 25, they will laugh at you.
Moving beyond all the weirdness of being a grown adult and all the crippling responsibilities that come with it, I’d like to formally congratulate you on surviving your teens! You’re entering a new phase of independence, and once you get over the fear of self-sufficiency, you’ll really love it. I previously mentioned that things get better, and it does! People start to take you seriously, pretty soon you can legally drink, you’re finding your real friends, college is 10 times better than high school, you get student discounts and you can still party without feeling like death the next day.
So go forth and take the world by storm! Don’t worry, you can still call your parents to help you fill out that form.