Doesn't it seem as if just yesterday we were all thirteen years old?
As another year has come to an end, and 2016 is upon us, I'm asking myself the same question; where has the time gone? I'm almost halfway through the undergraduate portion of my collegiate career, I'm about to be twenty years old, and getting my life together is a daunting task that must be accomplished as soon as possible. It's almost time to move out, support myself financially in every aspect, and generally conduct my life entirely on my own.
I miss being a kid.
Before I turned fourteen, life was all about enjoyment. Naturally I was expected to put forth my best effort in school to achieve the highest grades that I could, I was growing and changing, and going through that natural teenage rebellious stage, etc. But life was so much easier. The problems that we all had at that age pale in comparison to the ones we deal with now.
As a kid, you hangout with friends, and everyone has the same problems to face in regards to growing up, hitting puberty, and starting to figure themselves out. There are not real world situations upon us yet, so we just have fun, stay up as late as possible, and spend money on irrelevant small-scale items. I remember the biggest complication in the world to be at age fourteen was how badly I wanted my license. It was all I thought about and the only thing that could make my life any better. I did not see it as getting older, I simply believed all of my problems would be solved if I could drive.
Now, I want my student loans paid off, a college degree, a prestigious career with a stunning view of the city from my office, an extravagant apartment, and enough money that I don't have to worry about anything ever again.
That's the easy part about growing up; the stuff you can change.
Growing up is way more than achieving your goals. It's finding your place in the world. It's helping your family out. It's taking risks for your own prosperity. It's watching the people you would never expect to leave your life walk out on you, and others enter it. It's dealing with relationships, assisting your friends with their problems, and bearing the pain of relatives and loved ones passing away. Growing up is harder than anyone ever told us it would be. And the reason no one ever tells us that life will be this hard is because we simply never stop learning about the world, we never stop figuring ourselves out, and we never stop growing up.