Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Turning 20, Is it too Late to get a Ticket to Nevernever land?

I was not prepared for this.
When I was a teenager...see I'm not even twenty and already I'm starting sentences with "when I was a teenager". That's not suppose to happen, when the hell did I become some old folk reflecting on my youth.
No one prepared me for this. No one warned me about this - about this anxiety that comes with turning 20; 30's, 40's and 50's seems legitimate but 20, seriously?
This past week I've had this pit of butterflies at the bottom of my stomach all because on Thursday I turn 20.
Now I realize it will be like any other birthday and I won't really feel any different and I'll still be living the same life I was living before...but still...I'M TURNING 20.

I'm entering my official adulthood. I'm kissing my teen years goodbye. I'm saying Au revoir to a decade of my life and hello to a new decade...a decade which scares the crap out of me.
A decade which could easily be the most important of my life.
That's obviously a bit of a presumptuous statement to make but the 20's are a time of change, and a time where most of us set the foundations for our future lives.

In my Twenties, I'll graduate from University, I'll become completely financially responsible, and Ill have to get a real job that's career driven. If thats not scary enough, I'll probably meet my future husband and start a family.
Ok so I might wander around aimlessly for a few years, maybe even start a family in my thirties but still.
Entering Adulthood means that this will be the time, the stage in my life for accomplishments. And I dont mean just graduating and getting some amazing 200k job, but to really make my own "life story". The decision of Who I'll be, where I'll live, what I'll do, what experiences I'll have. The decisions I'll be making in the next years will greatly affect the rest of my life. I see my 20's as a time of seriously leaving the nest and the tree, and setting my life path. Its bloody frightening.

All that being said Thursday will go off without a hitch. I know change does not come over night. But on Thursday I lay to rest my teen years, my youth which is definitely something to be sad about, at least for a day or two, or once I realize that it is not the end of the world and I do not feel any different.
Which will probably be easy since I'll be too inebriated to even notice what the hell is going on anyway -at least somethings will not change (at least for now).

I might be an "adult" on Thursday but I can still party like when I was a silly teenager.