My Thoughts On: ...Being Eighteen years old
When people think of awkward adolescent ages, pretty much no one goes for the big "one -eight."
At first thought, yeah, it's true: eighteen isn't nearly as awkward as the puberty ridden age 14, "top of the world" age 16, or even the anxious age 17. Eighteen is the "fun year"! You're going off to college, able to smoke cigarettes, have a senior license, and you're a legal adult. Yet, it is that last fact that really strikes me.
What people don't realize is there is an inherent awkwardness of choosing an exact age to define as adult. One day, I'm a minor, the next day I blow out a few candles, and all of a sudden I'm not a child. I'm not a child anymore. Isn't that what we've all been striving for? I mean, we've all certainly become physical adults, so why not have the world define us as such?
Well, not everyone is ready or willing to use that title yet. It would be nice to have a system where you wouldn't be classified as an "adult" at age eighteen, but more so, become an adult when you're ready. Of course, that system would never work and has many more flaws than the one I'm trying to address of our current system.
I've been alive for Eighteen years, two months, four days, and some number of odd hours now, and I don't think I'm really ready to be an adult. I'd rather just stay in that metaphorical cocoon of adolescence and wait a couple of years until I'm ready to deal with my mistakes and be responsible for myself and, potentially, others.
Still, that's a lie. I am ready. Well, as ready as any one man could be, because we can never prepare ourselves. Yet, that's what "awkward adolescence" is all about- preparation for the real world. So it's time for this eighteen year old to stop making excuses and feeling awkward. It's time for all of us to just take a deep breath and jump into adulthood, a mysterious place that we've been ready for all along.
At first thought, yeah, it's true: eighteen isn't nearly as awkward as the puberty ridden age 14, "top of the world" age 16, or even the anxious age 17. Eighteen is the "fun year"! You're going off to college, able to smoke cigarettes, have a senior license, and you're a legal adult. Yet, it is that last fact that really strikes me.
What people don't realize is there is an inherent awkwardness of choosing an exact age to define as adult. One day, I'm a minor, the next day I blow out a few candles, and all of a sudden I'm not a child. I'm not a child anymore. Isn't that what we've all been striving for? I mean, we've all certainly become physical adults, so why not have the world define us as such?
Well, not everyone is ready or willing to use that title yet. It would be nice to have a system where you wouldn't be classified as an "adult" at age eighteen, but more so, become an adult when you're ready. Of course, that system would never work and has many more flaws than the one I'm trying to address of our current system.
I've been alive for Eighteen years, two months, four days, and some number of odd hours now, and I don't think I'm really ready to be an adult. I'd rather just stay in that metaphorical cocoon of adolescence and wait a couple of years until I'm ready to deal with my mistakes and be responsible for myself and, potentially, others.
Still, that's a lie. I am ready. Well, as ready as any one man could be, because we can never prepare ourselves. Yet, that's what "awkward adolescence" is all about- preparation for the real world. So it's time for this eighteen year old to stop making excuses and feeling awkward. It's time for all of us to just take a deep breath and jump into adulthood, a mysterious place that we've been ready for all along.