At sixteen, you have the whole world at your feet, and by celebrating this rite of passage, your friends and family come together for your huge “Sweet Sixteen” party. As you turn eighteen, you are officially declared an “adult,” where you have the privilege to vote for the very first time. When you reach twenty-one, you can legally purchase your first Sex on a Beach, something that you have been watching women in chick flicks do all-the-time.
After having gone through all these amazing years, I am now entering what people call the mid-twenties or the quarter-life crisis club. Not only do I get to watch people hit a milestone in their careers, get married and purchase homes for the first time, I get to pretend as if I do not feel a bit behind. Heck! All I am trying to do is survive.
As my birthday draws nearer, I am reminded of what I had planned for myself at ten years-old – I will have a prestigious career as a writer, be happily married and be living in New York City because that’s the place to be. Even though these plans never panned out, that is not what I am most apprehensive of – it’s the idea of getting older. Not only am I going to be thirty in just five years, I am going to be thirty-five, then forty and so forth. As you get older, you learn that time flies, and that you are not getting any younger. For instance, the energy I had at ten years-old is not the same as being twenty-five. At twenty-five, you need coffee to get you through the day! What I can do at sixteen, I cannot do anymore so don’t ask me to do the splits because I’m just not that flexible anymore. I should also mention that the bags under my eyes weren’t there when I was eighteen.
But, even though growing-up has its downfalls, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything positive about it. So, I asked myself, “What is my favorite thing about getting older?
It’s acceptance.
Through the many choices I was given and the decisions that I had made, I have learned to accept them whether or not they were the right ones. There’s no room for regrets because whatever decisions I had made at the time was what I had thought was best.
Most recently, I have learned to accept people for who they are rather than what I think they should be. We all hear about how we cannot change people for who they are, and that is alright because everyone is different – we all come from various backgrounds, lifestyles and struggles. By keeping this in mind, I can build better relationships with the people around me.
Lastly, The most important one of all is learning to accept myself. When you’re younger, you are constantly pressured to do what others think is best, and that who you are is not enough. I can confidently say at twenty-five, I know who I am far more than when I was twenty-one. I have a better focus on what I want, why I want it and how I am going to make that shit happen. Today, I am much kinder to myself, and I think a lot of us forget to do that.
As I am constantly reminded of how much “fun” it is getting older, I am also reminded of how much I have gained. Even though now I have bags under my eyes to remind me of how old I am, it cannot go against the level of understanding I have of those around me, and, especially, of myself. By learning acceptance, I am more focused on the present moment rather than dwell on what I “think” should happen. By learning acceptance, I am capable of opening my mind to other people’s situations rather than see things as black and white. By learning acceptance, I embrace my flaws rather than condemning it. On top of that, turning twenty-five means I can rent a car without being charged that $10.00 fee!
About Loriana:
Loriana is a true Southern Californian, who resides between Los Angeles and Orange County. Other than living out her passion in the world advertising, Loriana spends most of her time practicing yoga, checking out the new eateries and writing up a storm on her personal blog – lorianalam.com.
Photo courtesy of Tikkho MacielParque da Cidade, Brasília, Brazil/ Unsplash
