I was never the biggest fan of One Direction. I was more of a Belieber myself. But there is one One Direction song that I have always resonated with, Night Changes. I have always feared change. I feared change like a child fears the dark. But I wasn’t always this way.
As a little girl, I couldn’t wait to be in high school. The Disney Channel movies made it seem like it was magical. I was going to have my own Troy Bolton, I was going to be in a band like Lemonade Mouth, and I was going to be as cool as Radio Rebel. I built up and romanticized the whole High School experience my entire life. I was convinced that it was going to be amazing. I used to count down the days until I was a 16-year-old girl with many friends, a boyfriend, and a perfect life. I wanted to change into that girl so desperately.
Then I got to High School.
Wait, what? How am I already in High school? Just a second ago I was in third grade, playing Five Nights at Freddy’s with my cousins on the bus ride home, worrying if my mom would make dinner with vegetables in it. But I’m not the girl I thought I would be now. Well, that’s okay, I’m just a sophomore, I still have so much time left!
Junior year already? I could’ve sworn I was just in middle school, panicking about the bangs I just cut that are horribly crooked and learning how to play the flute. And since when did school get so hard? These AP classes are killing me. I don’t have any time to do all the cool high school girl things I thought I would be doing, I’m too busy with homework and trying to find a job. Well, that’s okay. I still have some time left! Graduation is basically years away.
Senior year. What do you mean in 7 months I’ll be an adult? I can’t be an adult! How am I supposed to know how to do taxes, pay bills, and provide for myself? What do you mean I have to get serious about my future? I don’t have time to think anymore.
I blinked and was no longer the 7-year-old girl with stars in her eyes that couldn’t wait to be a cool teenage girl. I am now a 17-year-old girl who will be graduating high school soon. I was in denial my entire high school career and now approaching the finish line, I regret not stopping to smell the flowers. I was in such a rush to grow up, that I took my childhood for granted. I just didn’t think time could move that fast.
Does it ever drive you crazy, just how fast the night changes?