Journal # 2 "The Real World"

10 minute reflection on what it means to be turning 18, working through my senior year of high school, and preparing to enter "The Real World."

9/4/2013

Levi Mead

Eighteen years ago today, at 4:10 PM, I was born. It’s a strange thing to turn eighteen. Occasionally I am reminded by a well-wishing friend or along my own train of though and I am filled with feelings of pride and accomplishment coupled with a contradicting fear of everything I am facing as an adult. Before I know it, this, my senior year of high school will end, and I will be thrust in to what we all inaccurately call “The Real World.”

In actuality, we’ve been here in the real world all along. Although it is true that we do not face many of the responsibilities that adults do, and we’ve spent the last twelve or more years preparing to turn our worlds upside down, we have also grown and learned and had valid experiences in a world just a real as any other.

I think that we fear this “Real World,” because we think we aren’t prepared. Moreover, we forget that we’ve been here all along. Our experiences and decisions don’t mean less because we lack the responsibilities of the real world. This week, I’ve tried to remind myself over and over again that I know who I am, I know where I’m going in this world, and I can handle it. Things will be different, but different isn’t a bad thing. Some of us will take a detour through university before joining “The Real World” and some of us will dive right in, but whatever decision we make, we have to realize that we are ready, and that we’ve been here all along.