Megan Yu shares how her perspective on aging and new opportunities changed.
On the first day of first grade, I told my best friend, “Wow, we are one year closer to dying.” To this, my innocent friend, with no concept of reality, responded by bursting into tears. Since then, as a six-year-old and now at 17, this recurring thought has stayed in my mind.
Yet, I pushed down this feeling, because since I was a preteen, I was infatuated with the idea of growing up. I watched cheesy teen coming-of-age movies, influencing the idea that independence was golden and maturity was effortless. I thought finding your true passion or dream job would happen naturally, almost like fate, and life would just “fall into place.”
But now, beginning our senior year, this newfound freedom doesn’t seem as shiny.
Realizing this is our last year of seeing childhood classmates every day, leaving behind teachers you looked up to and that 2008 will soon be 18 years ago. Suddenly, it feels like racing a losing match against time. That fear of aging—gerascophobia—once made me want to put the world on pause.