Usually, the youngest that you start remembering things is around 3 or 4 years old. From that point, you start making memories. You grow, you learn the alphabet and then you learn times tables. You learn about animals, and then you learn Chemistry, and then, before you know it, you're done learning in your school, and you're on to college. Call me crazy, but that's how how fast everything seems to pass by. In my mind, I should still be in 10th grade without a drivers license. But no, time is flying. And everything seems to happen in a quicker succession than it used to. First through fifth grade dragged on its appropriate five years, middle school seemed more like one grade, high school lasted about as long as an episode on Netflix, and senior year was over in the blink of an eye.
Kenny Chesney was right when he said "Don't Blink."
Lately, I've been absolutely floored with how fast time is really moving. It's like God sped up the hands on my watch and my days are clicking by even faster. And I've come to the realization that nothing will ever be the same as it is now. Once you finish high school, life changes more than some people like to admit. You spent most of your life in the same building as your best friends, but you choose a different college, or you are in a different sorority/fraternity, or you major in Biology while your best friends a teacher so your classes never overlap. No matter what, things are different. And that is scary and exciting all in one.
When you're younger, everything is easy. It may seem hard at the time, but it's really not that difficult to overcome in the end. But as you get older, it gets hard. Your choices hold more weight. You have to choose where to spend the next four years of your life, you have to choose what career you're gonna spend the next 60 years of your life working in. Sometimes, when you say goodbye to someone, you think "Am I ever going to see the person again?"
Sometimes I'm excited for the future, but other times it breaks my heart that I grew up so fast. What I wouldn't do to be 6 years old, all dressed up for Sunday School, or 14 and attending my first football game as a high schooler. I'm lucky enough to have had such an amazing time growing up that it makes me want to go back to it. But as they say, "You never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory." I am so guilty of this. Sometimes, when you're younger, everything seems like the end of the world. You think the only cure is to grow up. It's not. That math test junior year isn't going to kill you, that boy didn't really break your heart, and you aren't done being friends with your best friend just because they made you mad once. One day, you're gonna wish you were that young and stupid again.
My advice to anyone younger than me is simple: Just enjoy it. You are living in the last moments of your life being exactly the way it is. You're about to move out of the house you've lived in your whole life. Your parents won't be the first faces you see in the mornings.You're about to change schools to somewhere so much bigger and unfamiliar to you. And soon, you and your friends are gonna be separated. Enjoy the moment WHILE you're in it. Time is so valuable and runs out faster than you realize.
I don't agree that a new "chapter" of your life starts when you graduate high school. It's a whole new book. You're now living your sequel, and while there can always be the same characters, there will be some news ones and a different plot or setting or SOMETHING will be different. You might wanna go back to the first book, but it's already printed, signed, sealed, and delivered. It's a new book now, but the good news is... you're the author. More than ever, you are now choosing how to 'write' and live your life. Make it count.
