That’s not a genuine fact, more of a lyric from a Blink-182 song. But it may ring true, who knows? I’m only three days in to being 23 so time will tell.
23 does seem like quite an odd age to be fair. It’s an odd number, yes, but I doubt anything revolutionary will happen to me while I’m 23. I have lost my sense of taste and smell in the first few days of being 23, if that’s revolutionary in the slightest.
My birthday was one to remember, probably for the wrong reasons. I loved my 21st and 22nd birthdays, spending them in London and Dublin respectively. I thought my 23rd would be even better, given that I’m living in New York right now (well, New Jersey if you want to get technical about it).
I had expected a bar at the top of a skyscraper, overlooking the Manhattan skyline at night with all of the lights of New York below me. That would have been a perfect birthday, and made me pinch myself about where I was currently living and enjoying my birthday.
Instead, I was in my little New Jersey apartment, with a view of the World Trade Center, no less, but also a view into 100 other apartments and their Friday night viewing.
The year of 22
I want to keep this theme going of looking back to the previous 12 months and then looking forward to the next. I would write about the 23 things that I have learnt in the year previous, but I doubt I have learnt quite that much.
Maybe next year I can write about the 24 books I’ve read the year previous since I’m racing through my #12BooksIn12Months challenge thanks to isolation conditions.
The past 12 months have been nothing short of amazing. I graduated from university, was named the UK’s Best PR Student Blogger for the second year in a row, had an amazing summer in Liverpool, moved to New York, traveled to six new American states and have been enjoying the New York life ever since.
Until the last few weeks of my 22nd year on earth, obviously.
The next 12 months
Reading back on my birthday post when I turned 22, it seems like I’m in exactly the same position as I was back then. Looking forward to the next 12 months, I didn’t know where I was going to be, whether I would be in a new job or unemployed, would I still be in the UK or somewhere new?
All of these questions are the exact same ones I’m asking myself right now. I have no idea where I will be in 12 months from now. Will I be back in the UK? Back home in Ireland? Will I be employed or unemployed? Will I be living in a new city, a new country or even new continent?
I’m anticipating a worldwide recession to happen in the next few months, meaning finding a job is going to be extremely hard. This may mean that I will have to take what I can get when I get unleashed back into the job market. I may have to suck it up and go back to living in the UK for a while until the economy finds its feet again.
I just hope that I’ll be safe, I’ll be financially secure, I’ll have a roof over my head, and I’ll have a job that I enjoy.
What I hope to achieve by 24
Ew, I can’t believe I’m going to be 24 next year. I’ll basically be in my mid-twenties then. Time to really be an adult and have my life in order, surely.
Being 24 may also mean that I am living somewhere for longer than 12 months, which is something I’ve failed to do since starting university. I want to find that sense of ‘home’ for a few years, instead of living somewhere, and always anticipating my next move.
By this time next year, I hope to have had an amazing last few months in America and have ticked off a number of new states and cities. I hope to be in a new city and in a new country. A new continent would also be a bonus.
I hope by March 2021 the world will be put to right and we’ll be out enjoying each other’s company in bars and restaurants, that I can hug my family and friends again and will be back to normalcy.
I hope that I will have learnt a lot of new things by next March. I would love to have a certificate or some formal paper stating that I know something different. Perhaps even on my way to a piece of paper through the form of a Masters. I hope to have grown as a person, made some more new friends while keeping my old friendships and have made a lot of life experiences along the way of being 23.
I hope for a fun and healthy year ahead, for me and my family. I hope things are back to normal by the time my 24th birthday rolls around and that I’m still making my way in the PR world.
Things can only get better.
Leave a Reply