Teenager No More

On this 5th day of January, my teenage life is finally over as another year is finally added to my age that marks my 20 years of existence in this world.

This day seems like a normal day to me as I celebrated it silently with my family. No parties or big celebration because I don't want my family to spend money just to make me happy. Even though I haven't received material gifts from anyone, having a complete and healthy family and friends is enough for me to be grateful.

I am not really a fan of big celebration, and I do feel awkward when I am the center of attraction in a party full of people, so I chose to celebrate it with my loved ones.

Aside from that, as I grow older year by year, I realize that there are other things to prioritize first rather than throwing big parties that might drain my wallet. And also, the material things especially the foods and gifts during birthdays are so simple compared to the lessons I gained that have a huge impact to me as a person.

In this 20th year of my existence, I must say that I really learned a lot in the previous years. I got to change my mindset, behavior and the way I perceive the world.

To make it clearer, I want to share with you the things I've learned as I mark my 20th birthday today.

SELF LOVE

This would be one of the best lessons I learned as I grow older today because I got to love myself more than others, and I got to embrace my flaws and imperfections despite the almost perfect standards of our society. This may seem cliche to other people when they read this but, when I learned to love myself, my insecurities reduced and I got to accept the real me, not questioning why I am like this.

Loving ourselves before others will make us far from negative thoughts especially when thinking about the life of others. If we love ourselves first, we have no time and guts to feel insecure, because we have our own self to be loved and cared about, not minding other's business.

ELIMINATING NEGATIVE PEOPLE

No man is an island, meaning, we can't live without other people by our side. But, isn't it okay to be alone if we will just be in a bunch of negative people?

As I grow older, I am not afraid of losing friends anymore. If they seem to be toxic and unhealthy to me, I will try my best to cut the ties that connects us together. I will not beg for them to stay with me because I deserve true friends rather than the fake ones that might just destroy me and my happiness.

Few real friends and family are enough for me to live and be happy. I don't need negative people in my life, so as long as I have the opportunity to cut them out of my life, I will do my best to eliminate them away from me to preserve my peace.

EMBRACING FAILURE

Giving up has been removed from my vocabulary as I learned to embrace failure as a part of achieving success in the future. Failures are part of learning, so I am not afraid of it anymore. Yeah, it feels depressing to experience failure, but it's not yet the end of everything. If I have my goals and dreams, I'll try my best to achieve it even if it means that I have to past million failures to get there.

Being a loser in life will never exist as long as we are eager to continue achieving our goals despite the heartbreaking failures. We will just lose if we quit, that's why, I choose to embrace failure rather than being devoured by it that might lead me to be a loser forever.

EVERYTHING CHANGES

Our life is never static, but is dynamic. As time passes by, the things we used to have are changing and we have to accept that reality. The world is changing and so we are. We have to go with the flow as much as possible and be prepared enough to not be left out by the running time.

As I grow older, this lessons help me to not feel bad when something or someone changed. When other people change their treatment towards me, I'll just let them be. Maybe, it's part of their self growth, or it's a sign already to cut the ties that connect me from them. One of my goals is to achieve the best version of myself, so this lesson is very helpful for me to make my goal come true, because when my life changes, there might be an improvement.

EVERYTHING TAKES TIME

Rushing things out is never been my habit anymore as I got chill and relax first rather than panicking upon something I can't control. Time is continuously running but it doesn't mean that we have to rush things so they would fit to our desired timeline. If something is meant to happen, it will happen even if it takes time.

I learned to be patient enough when my goals aren't achieved yet, even though others are having what they want as of the moment. We all have different timelines, and we shouldn't compare it with what other's have. No need to rush things, just exert effort and relax, and it will happen.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

Our life changes as we grow older. Entering adulthood seems scary as it is full of responsibilities and it's not simple anymore, but we will soon realize that the lessons and experiences we're gaining everyday are priceless compared to the short-lived happiness we have before. We are being molded into a mature and best version of ourselves, and that's the most beautiful form of our life—to be able to embrace our real selves, and to perceive the world in a much clearer and optimistic way.

As I end my teenage life today, I am looking forward to a more mature me, with better mindset, behavior and approach in everything, together with the lessons I gained for the past years.

Author’s Note:

As a sign of gratitude, I want to express how thankful I am to you, my readers. Thank you very much for those who keeps on supporting me with my articles, and I hope that even though my writing skill was not yet pro enough, you are still learning from it. I am very thankful also to my sponsors, I am hoping that you are all doing fine and for you to be showered with more blessings from above. 

May the good Lord bless you more with love and grace! 😇 ❤️

Thank you so much for reading! 💕

Date Published: January 5, 2022

Lead Image and Gif: Originally edited by me using Canva