16 Things That Happen When You’re Making The Transition From A Trendy Youth To A Practical Adult
By Johanna Mort
1. You’re equally concerned about the sad state of your retirement plan and what Miley Cyrus is up to these days.
2. Your parents will occasionally ask you to explain who that actor chatting with Jimmy Fallon is… and you can’t answer them. You think they’re from that Teen Wolf show? HANG ON, YOU’LL GOOGLE IT.
3. Treats you used to eat a year ago are now “too sweet” for you, which is something that you used to make fun of your dad for saying… but here you are.
4. Sometimes the music that’s topping the Billboard charts just confuses you. Why is this popular?? BACK IN MY DAY MUSIC WAS GOOD.
5. Speaking of which, you find yourself unironically uttering “Back in my day” more and more often.
6. All of those posts about “the teens starting high school right now were born in __” actually do terrify you now. The kids I used to baby sit are older than the one’s entering high school! DEAR GOD.
7. The teen heartthrobs you had posters of all over your childhood bedroom are now staging their “comeback,” and you’re just sitting there wondering how it’s been ten years since they were popular.
8. You use Urban Dictionary all the time to catch up on the popular slang, because you refuse to be the out-of-touch adult that doesn’t know what “on fleek” is. You’re still hip! You’re current! Right?? -__-
9. When you wear headphones, you’re very aware of your music’s volume, because hearing damage is a real thing, and you no longer have that angst that simultaneously requires you to “block out the entire world” and give your ear drums PTSD.
10. …But you will still happily blast music from your car speakers. That’s just fun.
11. Current trends genuinely baffle you. Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge? WHY.
12. When you say something that correctly references popular culture in front of your fifteen-year-old niece, they stare at you like you just grew a third head, because how on earth do you know the current state of One Direction?
13. On more than one occasion, you’ve seen a new celebrity on the cover of a magazine and immediately had a mini-crush…. until you googled them and found out they’re 5 years younger than you. Oops.
14. …But on the plus side, the large majority of actors are now right in your age range sweet spot, which Teenage You has been waiting on for ages.
15. You’re torn between following that cool new fashion trend and finding clothes that are comfortable and can be worn for longer than one summer.
16. Making healthy diet choices makes you a bit sad, because you remember how great endless pizza tastes, but know that your body isn’t going to be as forgiving as it was when you were 16.