Why Getting Older Is Way More Awesome Than You Think

I hate to admit it but I am the person who got to 21 and started to dread her birthday's because I thought I was getting old. Which is absolutely ridiculous and please continue to roll your eyes at me because I totally roll my eyes at my past self too. But as I've got into the latter half of my twenties I've realised that getting older is kind of awesome and here a few reasons why...

YOU STOP CARING

Everyone always used to say this to me but I never believed them because I've always been someone who has constantly focused on what other people thought about me. And I think at 24 or 25 I finally had that moment where I just stopped caring what others thought or said. Which has to be one of the best things about getting older for sure, maybe it's the tonne of responsibilities you have and the lack of time to think or maybe it's that you feel slightly more secure with who you are and what you want. It took me so long to realise that just because somebody thinks something that doesn't mean it's true or your reality.And I'm pretty sure none of us love the fact that people might not like us but it's just part of life and very normal. When strangers are cruel and unkind it isn't nice, at all and there is no denying that but knowing it will never impact your life as much as it might feel that way is such a revelation.

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WANT

This isn't to say that you have an exact idea of what you're doing with your life because really who knows every exact detail let alone whether or not that it's going to go to plan? But for the most part, you get to the point where you have a generally good idea of what you want in life. And you feel more secure in what you want rather than you're being told what you should or shouldn't want which is so important. For so long in the beginning of my twenties I was so confused because I had no idea what I really wanted, I'd spent the majority of my life in the education system always knowing what the next step was and once I was finally free of education I was so lost. And then as the years passed and a lot of trial and error I realised there were a lot of things that are the norm that I had no interest in having. And there are probably so many of us that feel that way and struggle immensely with the pressure from society to follow everyone else and make the same choices as they do.

YOU ACCEPT YOUR BODY MORE

Having body confidence and feeling secure in my own skin is something that I've struggled with for a long time. And this isn't to say that I don't have my own hang-ups about my appearance because I do but in general I feel happy in my own skin. I've stopped hating my legs and wishing they were thinner because ultimately the most important thing is that they get me from A to B. And hating anything about your appearance never ever changes it. I'm a big believer that until you come to this realisation on your own terms then you don't believe it because it does sound like a load of crap. The more appreciation and self-love you show to yourself [I know, you're all probably rolling your eyes] the more you want to make changes for positive reasons rather than from a negative place. Hating my legs and hips wasn't making me happy and never made me want to try and make a change but appreciating them did.

YOU BECOME MORE IN TUNE WITH WHAT YOU ACTUALLY LIKE

A lot of my younger years were spent spending hours doing things that I absolutely hated. And this isn't to say that you get to a certain point in life and you can do exactly what you want because that just isn't how life works. But you definitely become more in tune with the things that you like and the things you don't, I'm not afraid of saying to somebody now that I really don't want to do something just for the sake of it. And in general, I'm so much more secure with the things I love doing too. Some people find staying at home and having evenings in really boring but those are the things that really make me happy and I don't think that they're boring at all. And I also really love going to the gym and taking care of myself, some people have absolutely no time for that and don't understand why it makes so many people so happy but it doesn't matter nor it will it ever matter. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

YOU KNOW WHAT TYPE OF FRIENDSHIPS YOU WANT

Friendships are something that become harder when you're an adult anyway. You no longer have all the time in the world to dedicate to your friends. And part of adulthood is readjusting your friendships and sadly losing a few too. It happens to all of us and as much as it sucks it's completely normal but sadly it's not spoken about enough. But something really awesome that happens is that you learn what type of friendships you like and thrive from and what you don't. When we're in school our friendships are all very similar and it's pretty intense but once you get to certain age things totally change. I now know that I don't need to see my friends all the time to thrive from our relationship and I actually function a lot better with space.

YOU REALISE NO-ONE IS THAT GOOD AT BEING AN ADULT

This is something that I've written an entire post on and aside from stopping caring what other people think I truly believe it's one of the greatest things about getting to a certain point in your twenties When I was younger I used to look up at people older than me, especially my older sister and think 'wow, they really have it all figured out' and they don't. I mean, I'm sure there are people out there who do have some stuff figured out but for the most part, everyone is making it up as they go along. There is no manual of how to be an adult and everyone has their own way of doing things and of course, we all have different goals and aspirations. And whilst we do all have to get on with it that doesn't mean it's easy and we're allowed to find it hard. So often I see people speak out and say they're having a tough time it's usually met with the response 'that's life' and having that response is so dangerous. We're all entitled to find something hard or struggle and trying to take that away from people can be so damaging.