When I was younger, I didn’t give much thought to my 20s. I had other things to worry about (what I was wearing to school the next day). It didn’t hit me that I was turning 20 until my senior year of high school, when you, of course, start worrying about the “real world.” Things were starting to get serious, something about turning a decade older felt terrifying. I’ve heard people say that everything changes in your 20s– you experience things you’ve never experienced before, relationships change, you’re changing. The truth is, change was always inevitable to me. I didn’t truly understand the concept of change until my middle school years, but I felt the effects of it long before then. I used to be fearful of change, it’s the unknown, a new territory. My teenage years were full of it. I had gone through heartbreak– both romantic and platonic. I started working, I got my license, I moved away from home, and started college, all within four years. There were times when I felt like I wasn’t even going to make it to 20, things got hard and I thought I wouldn’t overcome those hardships. These were my growing pains.
Luckily, I was able to overcome those hardships, but it took a lot. As I look back on my high school and middle school years, I can’t help but think what would have happened if I wanted to give up, if I had rejected the change that was occurring in my life. I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today or even have the people I have in my life right now. Life has given me so many lemons and I’ve made my lemonade. 18-year-old me was scared of 20, but now that I’m here, I think I’m going to choose to embrace it. After all, it’s just growing pains.