At 18 we are adults. Crazy because at this age we get to vote for President, but a year ago we weren't even allowed to get our ears pierced at Claire's without our mom. So why now all of a sudden are we being crushed by all of this adulthood? We aren't even fully grown at 18... so there's no real scientific basis for us being "adults" at 18.
We live a Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus lifestyle.
Our Hannah side:
Whenever we are in our hometowns coming home from college, you are a star. In high school, 12th grade is the most senior grade. Being a member of the most senior grade, you are top dog--no discussion. You reign as top dog, but come graduation day, you don't just hand off the title... you maintain it. You keep it low key though y'know... like slyly just putting your Smathers & Branson collegiate key fob out there. Like sheesh stop looking, I'm a normal person just like anybody else. One day young one you shall follow in my footsteps. It's like we're hometown royalty, and each visit back we make deserves a homecoming celebration. Why is all of this so? Well, because we are aged like fine wine. We are mature high school graduates, but not only that... we are legally recognized as adults. Practically (and literally) we cross the line from childhood to adulthood overnight.
Our Miley side:
When we come to college we are immediately knocked back down one or two or six or seven notches. We don't know nearly as much as we thought we did, nor do we know what the hell is going on (no matter how hard we may try to act like we do). We are babies again. Barely crawling around, if we manage to take a few steps, guaranteed we lose our balance, stumble backward and hit our heads. Do you know what to do to succeed in college? No. How about in all of these new social situations? No. How about in life? No.
We come into college and immediately feel like we can't breathe under all of the pressure, but most of that pressure is self-created. Given the increased status in Hannah-World, we now maintain unreal expectations for Miley. We shouldn't be doing this. You'll notice this the most when it comes to relationships. You for some weird reason expect to finally have it all figured out -- you'll be able to find a nice partner and keep up a long term relationship. That's just an unreal expectation. We are the BABIES of campus. It all takes time.
The moment in which we will achieve the most peace of mind is when we find the middle ground between our Hannah-World and Miley-World. On this level, we will understand our growth and how our past experiences have matured us, but we also need to remain humble. We gotta cut ourselves some slack, we are new to this whole adulting thing, we're just figuring it out. Everything takes time. If you rush it, it won't work out in your favor, so be patient and give it time.
Enjoy being an adult baby, baby!!!!
