January 15, 2015 - Written by: Poppy Gillian

Life Begins at 18

At the weekend, my sisters and I took my brother out clubbing. He’s just turned 18 and wasn’t sure what to expect. Being the youngest and only boy in our household, he’s been mollycoddled a lot by my mum. She kept nagging him to eat before we went out and told him not to drink anything. She seems to have forgotten that my sisters and I started going out and drinking with our friends at about 16.

At 18 you think that you’re a proper adult. You think it’s the start of some awesome new life where you are going to meet loads of amazing people, get loads of money and go on lots of holidays. Those things might happen, but most of the time you meet people you don’t like, are broke and therefore can’t go on holiday.

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There’s a lot to learn and you are always learning, no matter how old you are.

I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy going clubbing, as, to be honest, I now feel way too old. When the excitement of fizzles out, you realise that a club isn’t the glamorous and thrilling place that you once thought it was. It is, in fact, a lot of drunk people, in a dingy room, wearing a variety of inappropriate clothing, grinding up against each other.

Saying that, I actually did have a good time. But I guess it’s because I had no expectations and I didn’t care about what anyone else was doing or what they thought of me. When I was 18 I used to edge nervously away from guys that tried to get too close to me. This time, some guy started to touch my hair. I turned around and said ‘F*** off and don’t you dare touch me again.’ He was so surprised that he leapt away from me. He later tried the same thing with one of my sisters and she gave him a similar response. One guy did the highly irritating and often frequent thing of telling me to ‘smile.’ Usually I would probably just smile in response. But why? Why should I do something for the gratification of a complete stranger? I told him that ‘this is my natural face.’ That shut him up and he backed away quickly.

Having the ability to say what you really think comes with age. It needs confidence, but it is something that you have to be able to maintain. Sometimes it’s hard work, some days you just don’t have the energy for it.

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When you’re 18 you feel as though everything has changed, but you still have a long way to go. There’s going to be plenty regrets and mistakes, but that’s how we learn to make things better. There’s also going to be fun too; new people to meet and new places to go. 18 is a great age to be. If I could do it all over again, I probably would. You just have to remember that, although you are technically ‘an adult’, you still have a lot of growing up to do. But that’s all part of the fun.

If you like this, why not check out: ‘It’s My Party and I’ll Cry if I Want to‘?