I read your post, and I will admit, when my
23rd birthday was looming over me like a bad Monday hangover, I was
depressed. I felt old and unaccomplished and like my life was over before it
even started.
But, I was wrong. Oh-so-wrong. It took my upcoming 26th birthday to make me realize 23 is actually not so old and not so bad.
At 23, your friends or significant other still make a fuss over your birthday. Be it drinks, dinner or cupcakes at work, your 23rd year of birth does not go unnoticed. At 26, I am planning my own birthday party. This is, in a sense, like planning my own funeral. Birthdays after 23 often feel like funerals: complete with the guest-of-honor wearing a black slimming dress, Spanx included.
When you’re 23 you can still cling to the façade of “recent college grad” and “entry-level.” Cherish these terms for they are limited-time excuses and they are fleeing fast. Now, as I am about to turn 26, I can no longer stand behind the Berlin wall of “finding myself.”
No, at 26, I have reached what I am going to be. I am found and this is it. There is not much changing after this birthday. Sure, I’ll get married, change jobs and have kids, but all those things are really my fulfillment to society and other people. My self-fulfillment stops at 26.
At 26, everything changes. I’m officially closer to 30 than 20. I’m merely two years away from my ten-year high school reunion. I’m older than the kids on Beverly Hill 90210 were when their show ended. And if a bunch of rich white folks from Beverly Hills can’t make their lates-20s look interesting, nobody can.
I am in my late 20s. Still trying to figure out if I can swing a year abroad or join Peace Corps, when I know that at 26, it’s too late to do any of those things. I’m looked at strangely if I’m out on a Wednesday night, let alone if I pick up and move to Indonesia for the fun of it. Who am I kidding, I wouldn’t have the energy to do that anymore anyway. Plus, I’m too old to be sleeping on a cot in a youth hostel.
At 26, there are no more exciting birthdays to look forward to. At least at 23, you can still look forward to 25 when you can rent a car without the extra surcharges. And at 26, it’s pathetic that I find renting a car for cheap remotely exciting.
This is what you have to look forward to. Cheap car rentals and hopes that if you stay up until 10:00 pm. on a Tuesday you will still be functional at work the next day.
So, 23 really isn’t so bad. But I fully expect you to ignore this advice, just as I did when I was 23. Because, when we’re 23, we can’t imagine feeling any more ancient.
I can only imagine what 27-year-old me will be saying to this, or 28, 29 or…oh please no, 30! That is if I can still muster the energy to respond to blog posts by then.
So take your limber arms and wrap them around 23.
Hold tight and don’t let go.
Because I have a feeling it only gets worse from here.
But, I was wrong. Oh-so-wrong. It took my upcoming 26th birthday to make me realize 23 is actually not so old and not so bad.
At 23, your friends or significant other still make a fuss over your birthday. Be it drinks, dinner or cupcakes at work, your 23rd year of birth does not go unnoticed. At 26, I am planning my own birthday party. This is, in a sense, like planning my own funeral. Birthdays after 23 often feel like funerals: complete with the guest-of-honor wearing a black slimming dress, Spanx included.
When you’re 23 you can still cling to the façade of “recent college grad” and “entry-level.” Cherish these terms for they are limited-time excuses and they are fleeing fast. Now, as I am about to turn 26, I can no longer stand behind the Berlin wall of “finding myself.”
No, at 26, I have reached what I am going to be. I am found and this is it. There is not much changing after this birthday. Sure, I’ll get married, change jobs and have kids, but all those things are really my fulfillment to society and other people. My self-fulfillment stops at 26.
At 26, everything changes. I’m officially closer to 30 than 20. I’m merely two years away from my ten-year high school reunion. I’m older than the kids on Beverly Hill 90210 were when their show ended. And if a bunch of rich white folks from Beverly Hills can’t make their lates-20s look interesting, nobody can.
I am in my late 20s. Still trying to figure out if I can swing a year abroad or join Peace Corps, when I know that at 26, it’s too late to do any of those things. I’m looked at strangely if I’m out on a Wednesday night, let alone if I pick up and move to Indonesia for the fun of it. Who am I kidding, I wouldn’t have the energy to do that anymore anyway. Plus, I’m too old to be sleeping on a cot in a youth hostel.
At 26, there are no more exciting birthdays to look forward to. At least at 23, you can still look forward to 25 when you can rent a car without the extra surcharges. And at 26, it’s pathetic that I find renting a car for cheap remotely exciting.
This is what you have to look forward to. Cheap car rentals and hopes that if you stay up until 10:00 pm. on a Tuesday you will still be functional at work the next day.
So, 23 really isn’t so bad. But I fully expect you to ignore this advice, just as I did when I was 23. Because, when we’re 23, we can’t imagine feeling any more ancient.
I can only imagine what 27-year-old me will be saying to this, or 28, 29 or…oh please no, 30! That is if I can still muster the energy to respond to blog posts by then.
So take your limber arms and wrap them around 23.
Hold tight and don’t let go.
Because I have a feeling it only gets worse from here.
