Life is like a game of cards. Shuffle the deck and you get the cards you’re dealt. Sometimes you play with jokers, and sometimes you don’t. Throughout life, you have to deal with bullies, heart breaks, and most importantly, growing up. When we grow older, we may lose our sense of identity.
Some may feel a mixture of emotions when it comes to birthdays. Some may experience a bittersweet feeling when becoming an adult. Senior Emma Hudak expressed her thoughts on how she felt once her birthday came around. Hudak shared, “I was excited, but I was sort of sad though as well because I felt kind of like I was growing up too fast.” Birthday blues are real and growing up is not always exciting for everyone.
Senior Samy Djamaa expressed how sometimes he feels like he should have slowed down and realized that being a kid is something really valuable. Djamaa said, “I’ve always wanted to grow up quickly when I was young, but now as I’m getting older, I wish I really enjoyed being younger more because it came super quick.” Djamaa goes on to share that at times he was envious of others when he was younger. “I feel like I always saw people who were older than me and I wanted to also be older, but I do sometimes miss being a kid.” While Djamaa reminisces about being a kid, he does not know if he can navigate adulthood. Djamaa shared, “Sometimes I second guessed if I was fully experienced enough to call myself an adult because of how fast it came by.”
Growing up, we go through the phases of learning what’s right and wrong. Birthdays can look different for everyone. The excitement of having more freedom when more candles are added to the cake, is real. But, some students do not have the opportunity to experience the feeling of growing up. Senior Lex Ramani shared, “It was kind of different for me because I had to grow up very quickly and I had a lot of older people in my life and I wasn’t really friends with people my age, one because I was kind of a loser, and two I had a lot of older influence in my life.” Ramani added, “I now realize it’s done a lot of good for me, but it’s also done a lot of harm because I haven’t given things the time it takes to mature so I have experienced them kind of artificially because I tried to do them too quickly.”
For Ramani, only believes some birthdays are significant. “I think certain birthdays are important. For example 21, you have a lot more privilege, 18 you’re an adult, and 16 generally you can drive so I think some of those have importance to them. But, I think especially for some high schooler’s it might feel like 17 is kind of nothing, 15 is kind of nothing. Some of those ages don’t feel like much,” Ramani said.
It is normal to feel a sense of sadness on their birthday. Once you turn 18, you are no longer a kid and have more responsibilities. There is no pamphlet that tells us what to do when we grow up, but you’re not in a race with anyone, it’s your life, take as much time as you need to figure out what you want to be. It’s perfectly normal to reminisce on your childhood and it’s perfectly normal to look forward to the future, but living in the present is salient. It may be scary and difficult things may seem impossible, but how else is history made?
