Pisces season is nearing its end, and so is this decade of my life. These last ten years have been filled with love, loss, and a million other emotions and experiences. I watched myself grow up into the person I am today, but when I look in the mirror, sometimes I still see the little 10-year-old who thought 20 was “a million years away.” In honor of me leaving one era of my life and starting a brand new one, here are some things I’ve learned throughout these past 10 years.
Acting on Impulse is a Good Thing!
I was always a girl with a plan: I picked out my outfits every night before school, I planned my lunches for the week, and even now I have a 4-year course plan for my time in college. I’ve since learned that acting on impulse can be some of the best choices I can make. These were both big and small, some being a lot more drastic than others. I joined a sport I knew next to nothing about in high school, I bought concert tickets less than 24 hours before a show, and I randomly decided to tour UMass Amherst when the college application process was beginning. These were impulsive and nerve-wracking at the time, but I’ve loved every minute of these impulsivities, big or small. I made so many lifelong friendships from playing field hockey and attending UMass, and spending that money on a concert ticket that I probably should’ve saved gave me tons of memories seeing my favorite artists.
Not Everything Goes to Plan
Despite having a notes app filled with different lists and plans, this decade taught me that not everything goes to plan. Suffering a loss before starting high school, and another after my first semester of college, weren’t things I expected, and definitely not scheduled in my Google Calendar. But I learned to grow myself with these changes, realizing that not everything goes exactly as planned. When life goes off-script, I’ve learned to accept it and make the best out of the situation.
Nobody Cares (No, Seriously)
I developed my sixth sense of anxiety at some point in middle school. I was always self-conscious of what I was wearing, what I was doing, and whether or not someone was judging me. Like many of my friends, I hated posting on Instagram because I worried that someone would share my post with their friends. But over time I learned to focus on myself and do things that I enjoy without worrying what others think. This made me realize how much happier I am doing the things I love! I stopped worrying about everything besides what would make me happy back in my senior year of high school, and it was genuinely one of the best decisions I could’ve made.
There’s no place like home
I always knew I wanted to go out-of-state for college with the life away from New Jersey calling my name. But once I actually made it to Massachusetts and spent a few weeks here, that bittersweet homesick feeling crept up on me when I least expected it. It was tough being away from my family when they would send me pictures from get-togethers, and not being able to get a good bagel whenever I wanted was also difficult. Even though I learned to make Massachusetts my second home, there really is no feeling like crossing the border back into New Jersey when I go home for break!
These past ten years have been filled with the good and the bad, yet I still survived with flying colors. My teen years were unique to those of others, and I wouldn’t change them for the world. While it feels weird to be entering my twenties, I know that they’ll be some of the best years of my life!
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