Recently, as many others around my age, I’ve been so confused. Not just by one thing or another, but everything at one time or another. At first I didn’t understand the real reasoning but I’ve slowly put together a theory of why this age is so confusing. When you’re young, you’re looking forward to everything to come and you don’t have much to look back on. You look forward to being in high school, going to college, and all things adult. However, as I’m sure everyone has heard 100 times over, older adults constantly wish to be young again, and say to never wish time away. That leaves you asking the same question as I have been, which is where do us young adults end up?

I’ve convinced myself we’re in a transitional state between looking forward and looking back. Almost like a book that constantly and suddenly flips between flashbacks and real time. They’re always a little harder to read and harder to understand. Which is similar to this time period in life, which gets a little harder (a lot for some) and harder to understand. However, just because a book does that, does not mean it doesn’t end up being a phenomenal story. The same can apply to your life. Those who put down the book the second they got confused will never appreciate its beauty, and those who give up on life the second it gets hard or confusing will never understand the beauty of life.

Many people, including myself, will spend all of high school looking forward to college. Just dragging by each day of school until graduation. Then once college hits, look back to high school and wish you would’ve valued your time there more. Life is full of anticipation and hope. Sometimes we let that get the best of us. We think that things will be so drastically better by one event, almost like a switch. While life does change drastically, very rarely does it happen as fast as the flick of a switch. Which again leads to looking back. Because things can change so drastically, yet over time, it many times leaves us looking back asking “what happened”. This is the first major time in our lives this will happen, which is why I think it hits many of us so hard. But this will continue to happen more and more as time goes on. As I’m sure most of us have heard from our parents and those older than us. It will probably happen when you buy your first house, have kids, and later retire. Of course including many speed bumps along the way.

This transition will hit each person completely different, and at different times, but at one point or another everyone will go through it. For some, it will last years, maybe for others just a week or two. I’m not trying to say once you turn 18 your life is basically over and you’re never going to look forward to anything again. People will always look forward to things, it just seems to be the way most people act.

This change is what I believe leads to a lot of confusion around young adulthood. However, it can be a very good thing. I say this because being able to look back and reflect upon your past can lead to better decisions for your future and give you an edge you didn’t have before.