So, I know you heard about all the things going on in American politics, but that's not what this piece is about. This is about a transition that life is forcing me to make, but I'm not quite ready for.
I'm talking about my last days as a teenager. In a few days (depending on when you are reading this), I will be out of the teenage years. A whole new decade for me.
I am holding on to these days because time is moving fast, and that day will be here before I know it. My mom has given up on those last few days of me being a teenager despite my constant request to please let me have those last few days.
Have you ever had those family members or those friends who are like "you're all grown up now," but you know how old you are? This is the time where you start sounding like those family members.
It's strange thinking about the cycle that's occurring. I see it like I was graduating high school: I started a freshman, made it to senior year four years later, graduated, and suddenly became a freshman again.
I see the transition from teenage years to twenty as the same: I started at 13, made it through 19 six years later, my birthday comes, and suddenly I'm the youngest again.
In these teenage years: I was a private person. You would never catch me getting arrested or doing anything illegal because I was such a private person to the point where I chose my friends very carefully.
In high school, I really only hung out with my friends at Girl Scouts. I did other activities like technical theater, but it was mostly scouts. Even now, I'm a very private person because I am picky about who I hang out with. I also developed my public speaking skills
Two years in college. I have learned how to create my own fun. I have learned how to go somewhere by myself and meet people wherever I am.
All of that was between ages 13-19. Now, I am about to leave the teenage years and I have no regrets.
Now, as we get older, we change. Nothing will ever stay the same as time moves on. However, if we leave behind our most important lessons, we will not grow.
That is the most important thing I have learned how to do because you have to be okay with being alone before you find someone else. So, I'll go to a football game alone or a concert by myself.
As I grow up, I would like to continue to be able to do that. That has been my lifeline, my saving grace. This is why I am not desperate to meet new people.
On the flip side, I want to meet new people. I feel as if too much privacy has closed me off and I would like to see if I can become an extrovert.
It's the last days of the teenage years, and I am counting the days.
