GOLDEN BIRTHDAY: THE BEAUTY OF AGE
My golden birthday is on saturday. I will be 25 on the 25th—yes, a quarter of a century old.
And it's a weird feeling. I think in our early 20s, we all can still ride the tail end of the teenage wave, you know when we're more accepting to our mess ups because we're adjusting to becoming adults—yes, the real world stuff that everyone talks about. But now, all I can think about is that I am on the other side of 20 and I need to have it figured out...hello quarter-life crisis?
Photo by Christina Hartzell
I'll be honest, I'm not sure how to feel about being 25, but it's not really a crisis. One thing I know is that there is a niceness about maturing and growing from your experiences—age is a beautiful thing. Scary? Yes. Weird? Yes. But it's beautiful.
I am working on myself, and it's a process let me tell you. Somedays I think 25 sounds old—I mean I'm half way to 50, ah. Other days, I still feel so young. And I know I am, but I also know that I can't take time for granted.
It's so easy to look around and compare yourself with others and then question where you're at in your life, especially when we're trying to find our "place" in this world. We may be broke, happy, hating our job, brokenhearted, exhausted, but the life lessons are invaluable.
Now, I think the difference is expectations—from myself and from others. I'm no longer someone who is learning how to adult (even though on many days I still find adulting hard). But now we have so many responsibilities and dreams that may not have gone as planned, and especially as women, society now pushes us to feel like aging is a bad thing.
So on top of paying bills, dressing for success and maturity, and accomplishing goals, we also have to worry about anti-aging cream and preventing wrinkles? whyyyyyy?
But I'm not worried. I actually am weirdly happy that I am getting older. I know I have so much more to learn and experience, but I also know that I don't have all the time in the world to sit and wait for things to happen.
Of course there are things I wish I could relive or redo, but there's also beauty in maturing and loving where you're at and the anxious feeling you get when you think about where you're going.
In my 25 years, I have learned a lot and am still learning, but the greatest things have been patience, awareness and persistence—and my view on those things have changed drastically, even in the last five years.
The importance of working on yourself and learning to accept yourself inside and out is something I think we all strive for and hopefully I can get that much closer to evolving and finding new strengths, and even some new weaknesses to work on.
So here's to year 25—I'm ready.