Now I'm Starting to Feel Old

Okay, I can probably guess what a lot of you are thinking right now. "You're 18, that's not old at all!" And yes, whilst that is true, that doesn't change the fact that it suddenly feels like I've gone from a 12-year-old to an adult overnight.

Really, it all started last year when applying to uni started becoming a topic of discussion all around school. In all honesty, even after starting my A-levels, the big wide world still seemed a whole life-time away. Oh how I sometimes wish I was right.

Applying to uni itself wasn't that daunting, but that moment of finally submitting my application to UCAS in September really did cause me to stop and think 'is medicine really what I want to do for the rest of my life?' At that time, I think I had a breakdown equal in magnitude to any mid-life crisis. I hadn't even learned to drive yet - I seemed much too young to be making decisions about my future!

Then my 18th birthday came and went with little celebration, and I still didn't feel like an adult. I haven't used my ID once; my mum still buys my alcohol with her weekly shop at Tesco. I still haven't learned to drive, although I will be after exams this year. But today I finally did something that made me feel like I had finally earned my new adult status.

I voted.

So I've probably waffled on and built this post up a lot for something really inconsequential but, to me, that was actually my first milestone towards feeling like an adult. Yep, and it wasn't even an important election.

However, this morning I got my polling card (gosh I'm sounding so sad right now) and packed a drink and my phone and cycled a couple miles to my polling station a couple villages away where I went into the tiny Methodist Church room and crossed a couple boxes, and that's what it took to finally feel like an adult. And now I don't like it one single bit. Can I go back to being a 7-year-old now please?

The whole experience did teach me one thing though: I am never cycling there again. It is so hot today and I totally underestimated just how hilly it is where I live, especially considering I haven't cycled for almost a year now. The ride home was enjoyable though, my feet didn't touch the pedals for 3/4 of it!

There isn't really much of a point behind this post, I just needed to get my thoughts out about it and perhaps have something to look back on in a few years time so I can laugh at how silly I am.

But what made you actually feel like a grown-up? Was it voting for the first time, buying your own house, getting a job, etc. I'm rather interested to hear what that turning point from teenager to adult was.