How Turning 21 Can Make You Feel Old

When I turned 21, of course, the first thing I thought was “finally!!!”. I’m not gonna deny my urge of wanting to be able to go into a liquor store on my own without having to send in a friend whose of age. But something else happened, I started to feel old. Is it weird? That turning 21 made me feel old. I thought so, but not exactly. It’s the fact that it makes you think back on what you’ve been doing with your life and what you need to do to achieve your goals. I felt like I had been slacking on reaching my goals since turning 21, and I feel like we all feel this way. Don’t believe me? Well here is a list of reasons why.

1) College

If you plan on going to college or you’re already attending then you’ll definitely see how I’m feeling. For even friends of mine who are slacking in the entering college part, they feel stressed when they realize how many more years they have of school leading up to the career world. You may not realize this now but turning 21 is a lot scarier than it sounds. I for one am graduating with my associate’s but I should’ve graduated last semester, it could’ve been a year ago if I was more on top of my classes. Sure it’s exciting cause now your literally an adult but, when becoming an adult comes responsibility and responsibility is what will weigh on you.

2) Careers

I personally feel behind when I think about my job at the moment. There are people from my high school who now working at law firms are started a makeup brand. I know it sounds too good to be true but try looking into some of the people you went to school with you may be surprised. It makes you look back at yourself and you may be a cashier while in college or me a babysitter, which can be good money but it doesn’t sound like I hit the jackpot in the career world just yet.

3) Moving Out

This is a big one, sure I haven’t moved out yet but my goal has been to for a while. It sucks when you see all these people your age with their own apartments and good jobs. Well, jobs that help them get by. One piece of advice I would say is a get a roommate. I’ve had my roommate set since junior year of high school. We’ve both been planning our incomes as well as payments we need to be prepared for. Moving out I feel like is a pro when turning 21. You’re basically an adult so where’s the argument with your parents about moving out, I mean lots of friends have strict parents so I can see how they’re still stuck in their homes. Although this is the age to branch out and learn how to stand on your own two feet so why not? But make sure your ready for this step and financially secure.

4) Paying Bill’s

If your not paying bills yet, you will soon. Because at some point you’ll have responsibilities of your own. If you’re not living on your own it doesn’t mean you won’t have bills. I’ve been covering my own phone bill since high school. It makes you think about the kind of cheap service plans you’ll move to when you don’t get money for the big service providers. Besides that, I cover my Netflix, my Hulu, and etc. My big bill is my car insurance and car payments. That’s where my money runs too. I get if getting a car isn’t in your future right now cause you can’t afford it. I for one was lucky to get my first one as a gift, then when I sold that one, I bought another. But just as all used cars go, every time something wrong with it, getting it fixed racks up some sort of bill. So obviously you need the right job for these kinds of bills.

5) Aging

Now I may be wrong when I say this, but I’ve been told growing up that when turning 21 all your other birthdays come faster and also lose importance. I’m not trying to rain on your parade doesn’t mean you’ll stop celebrating, it’s just you won’t have much to look forward to besides another number. It can be great getting older cause you can see how far you’ve come in life and look back at the great memories you’ve had. I for one started feeling old when I graduated high school, that’s when I noticed time flies.