My 16th year zoomed by incredibly quickly. I had been looking forward to being 16, a “real teenager,” in my opinion, from a young age. 16 felt like a massive milestone to elementary school Gianna. Influenced by extremely dramatized Disney media, I expected 16 to be a lot more eventful. I felt pretty much the same at 15 as I did at 16, the only difference being that I could start driving. Even now, what does turning 17 bring? I still can't legally buy spray paint or lottery tickets, and I’ve still got more than a year of high school left.
The only major milestone differentiating 16 from 17, as I see it, is that there are many songs about being 17. Most obviously, “Dancing Queen” by ABBA, “17” by Avril Lavigne, “Seventeen Forever'' by Metro Station, and “Girls” by The 1975 are the first few songs that come to my mind.
My life doesn't quite feel as “wild and free” as these songs might suggest being seventeen is like. In a way, it almost adds to the pressure of being seventeen for me. Am I not making the most of the last bits of my childhood? Media, such as music, is oftentimes quite dramatized, yet it still makes me feel as though I may be missing out on fun experiences while I’m still young.
While I’ll probably feel the same turning 17 to 18, it still signifies a big period of transition. This time next year, I’ll be preparing to go to college. I will be getting ready to start a massively new chapter in my life. So I suppose, in a sense, 17 could be considered the last of this chapter of my life--my childhood. It’s a scary thought.
I think that this year, I am going to try and be more conscious of the time I have. I want to enjoy the high school chapter of my life as much as possible, because before I know it, it’ll be over.
Is there anything that you think makes being 17 particularly special? Do you feel pressured by 17 being “the last year of childhood?”
You can't legally buy spray paint when you're seventeen? To be completely honest, that came as a real shock to me! Anyways, I wonder all the time if I am making enough of my high school years. I don't usually like to think about it because whenever I do, the only thought I seem to have is "yeah! I've done a lot, but I could have done more! I should have done more!" I think that we all do this to ourselves on some level. I had a very good childhood, as have many others, but I cannot seem to shake the feeling that there is so much more I should have done. You mentioned how you thought that turning sixteen would be such an incredible milestone but turned out to be kind of lack-luster. I am sort of hoping that turning seventeen and eighteen will kind of feel the same way. What is age, really? It's the number of trips we've taken around the sun. It's a few extra legal rights. It's not a reason to stop trying new things, though. That is an individual decision, and I am going to treat it as such. I am not going to act as though the fun part of my life is over once I turn seventeen or eighteen.
ReplyDeleteLife is too short for that. We get sad, happy, and angry. We smile, cry, and laugh. We're all on a crazy journey of life, and some may choose to crack down and become strictly business after childhood. As for me, though, I'm just getting started.
Ever since getting to High School, I've been sure that college is going to be the most fun time of my life. School is a bit too real, and reality has its fair share of unpleasantness and hardship mixed in with the good times. College, on the other hand, is this far away place way in the future where I'm going to meet lifelong friends, embark on a life plan, and eventually come out as an adult. Except college isn't far away anymore - it's just a handful of months away. So I've been thinking that maybe I wasted time in High School fantasizing about what's next, focusing too much on what I dislike about school and not what I enjoy. This year has been passing so quickly, and watching the days fly by has really altered how I look at being in school. I can see now that while nothing especially interesting is going to happen just because I'm 17, this is truly the end of an era. Soon I'm going to talk just like my parents about those nostalgia-soaked memories of school, and my new goal is to make sure that I have no regrets when I look back at those memories.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I don't really feel pressured by having to do anything in my last year of childhood because I'm kind of excited to turn 18 and be a full adult. I feel like having the title of adult will be relly cool. So no I don't really feel pressured to do anything special my last year as a child.
ReplyDeleteRecently, I've been feeling the need to live more in the moment, so when I look back on my teenage years, I know I live to the fullest. SO many older people tell us to seize this time and appreciate the experiences we will have in high school and college, and honestly I will do what they say because it only comes from their reflection of what their youth was like. Also, I'm turning seventeen on Sunday, and the other thing I'm looking forward to is playing dancing queen, and hopefully getting gas money from my family. I think turning eighteen will be a much bigger deal to all of us just as sixteen was for most.
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