16 Dec 2021
Overview
  • Year13 reader Teneille Jacobson wrote in about their experience turning 21 and maybe realising that they weren't where they expected to be in the so-called best years of their life.

Like any other typical Aussie gal, I was super stoked for my 21st birthday to roll around. It was going to be the full shebang. It meant the classic pic with the ‘21’ balloons, drinks, good food, great people, awesome tunes and a fresh fit to debut on the ‘gram the next day.

I was finally the big 2-1, and at my prime age. But once I hit post on those perfectly detied, painstakingly captioned pictures, the hype suddenly disappeared. I couldn’t help but think ‘now what?’. There’s no doubt that being 21 felt different. I was old, right? I should have all my crap together - but that’s the thing - I was nowhere near the point I promised my 17-year-old self I would be.

When I was a kid I would write stories for my Nan and Pop, reading them out at the foot of their bed. It was such a sentimental moment when years later they gifted me my very own typewriter. From then on, I knew that my future career needed to involve writing, and when I fell in love with public speaking in Year 12 I told myself that I had to become a journalist. I worked super hard and got an offer to study a Bachelor of Media and Communications in the big city, so I packed my bags and basked in everything Sydney had to offer a fresh 18-year-old. All was going well - I was on the road to my dream job, and I was going to be exactly where I wanted to be when I turned 21.

But things began to change very quickly. As my first semester rolled around, I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d made the right choice. I doubted myself so much that I dropped out of the degree, just as my best friend started! I was saving money through the second half of the year, but everything felt like a mess and I was completely depressed. Before I knew it, 2019 came around. I decided to try out teaching in a university closer to home. It felt close enough to journalism to keep me interested, so I moved back into my childhood bedroom and gave it my best. Maybe unsurprisingly, teaching just wasn’t it either.

Now I’m back doing my Bachelor’s, and next year I’m going to go back to Sydney to do a Master’s in Communications! She really did a full 180! So here I sit, 21 years old and nowhere near where I wanted to be. But guess what? I’m absolutely vibing, and getting a little closer, step-by-step, to where I want to be.

People ask me if I regret dropping out of Media and Communications but my answer to that is ‘hell no!’. I made invaluable friends, met my super-loving boyfriend, gained confidence and became more passionate than ever. I’m not where I thought I would be at 21, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

My advice is that it’s okay to change your mind, it’s okay to take a detour and it’s okay to take things at your own pace. You know yourself better than anyone, so there’s no use comparing yourself to other people, or even to past versions of yourself.

Keep pushing forward, take care of yourself and remember that you have your whole life ahead of you. At the end of the day, it’s all going to fall into place - even if it isn’t by the so-called ‘prime’ age of 21.

Written By Teneille Jacobson