A shit ton of stuff has happened this decade. Reflecting on my past 10 years feels like a funny idea, but I got inspired from seeing this type of Instagram stories from acquaintances. I turned 16 in early 2010. Reflecting on what’s happened between ages 15 and 25 feels like a fun thing to do, because it’s A LOT. So, let’s start with early 2010 and move onwards.
I lost my virginity in early 2010. It was quite undramatic. Didn’t hurt, felt safe but it wasn’t any kind of magical moment with the love of my life either. After that, I had another somewhat more dubious “romance” with a much older guy that left me feeling very anxious. I had just turned 16, so it was just about legal according to the local laws, but I still shouldn’t have gone there. It’s something I would definitely un-do if I could.
In 2010, I also moved from a small town to the capital, started high school. Starting high school wasn’t easy, I wanted to go to a music specialised school but didn’t get in, so at first I wasn’t happy with the school. I met most of my friends, people that I believe is and will be lifelong friends.
I moved from my mum’s place to live with my dad, it turned out to be a bit of a disaster. I did not get along with his wife at all. I also ended up not speaking at all to my dad in 3 months. I moved to live with my grandparents for the rest of high school. That was nice and I felt safe and cared for there, even if they weren’t at home most of the time because they travelled or went to the countryside.
In 2011, I got my first serious boyfriend. I kept him until early 2016. He was a bit of a tricky personality and I was having some of my own issues in ages 16 to 20, but overall it was a good relationship. He sort of became my family as I wasn’t really living with my family day to day. He really was my rock growing up, even if the relationship wasn’t always drama-free or 100% stable. I guess now in hindsight, it’s probably okay if you’re not a master at all that relationship stuff at ages 17–19. Nevertheless, I did my best. When he was in the military I drove 3h somewhere in the middle of nowhere just so I could sneakily hang out with him for less than an hour. 6 hours of driving for 1 hour of seeing each other felt completely reasonable, love is a strong motivator. 2012 was all about my boyfriend at the time, really. I attended the European Youth Parliament debating competitions, and he was there as well.
In 2012 I also turned 18, and could finally legally go out to bars and clubs. So I did, and I’ve liked bars and clubs ever since, even if I’m not a huge drinker. I got my first smart-phone, which I really hated at first. I guess you can’t fight society’s progress easily though, so I kept the smart phone as I received it as a gift from my boyfriend’s family. I travelled the first time on my own, to Barcelona with my friends and to Greece with the boyfriend. I still think that’s individually the happiest week of my life. It was the first time I was with another person and it felt like all walls between were torn down, we were so close. And so happy together.
In 2013 I graduated high school and had to figure out what to do. I don’t know if I did a great job of it. I randomly scattered around applications because I found it really angsty to choose what to do, and I felt like not attending university straight away would mean I’m a failure. I figured I’d just start somewhere. So I started studying journalism, although my boyfriend at the time said I was too smart to study that. He had some point, I liked journalism but I wanted more intellectual challenge. In 2014 I also started studying economics and business. I decided to do a double degree just because I wanted to prove something to myself or people around me, I’m not sure which.
In 2014 I started my blog about eco-friendly life styles, and really became and environmentalist. I spent quite a bit of time on that blog, but it never got huge or great. It was just like a hobby, next to many other things. In 2015 I started using Instagram, it’s not really a significant event that I remember but I am mentioning it because I’ve probably spent an absurd amount of time on social media this decade. I’ve had a habit of googling the weirdest questions that pop into my mind. A lot of questions do. But I’m not sure that I memorise anything as I flippantly scroll though my
2014 and 2015 were unsurprisingly extremely busy with the double degree, I also did a shit tonne of extra curricular activities. Looking back at it, it was extremely unsustainable but I just kept going. I crashed only when 2015 changed to 2016, and I went abroad for an university exchange. I realised I hadn’t stopped to think and reflect enough and had a bit of a life crisis. This was my first time in London, and I just felt like crap. I actually ended up cheating on my boyfriend at the time, and then ended the relationship with him. It was quite dramatic actually. 4,5 years together, all gone as he then refused to speak to me after the relationship ended. Now, 4 years after the breakup, he still doesn’t, but I’ve finally come to peace with it.
Spring 2016, still in London on exchange, I met a new guy. I literally ended up dating the first guy I went on a date with after my break up. I was quite broken at the time, and I felt like he helped fix me. It was a quite unhealthy start on a relationship, but before I knew it I was too deep in the relationship to easily get out. This boyfriend really forced me to reflect on my own issues and weak moments. I learned a lot, but I did stay in this relationship slightly too long, always hoping it would get better. I even moved to London for him, TWICE. I kept longing for my home country, so moved back and forth a bit. I also needed to finish my bachelor’s studies in my home country.
While in my home country, I was part of two start-ups. One that I joined in autumn 2016, but that then stopped operating end of 2017. Spring 2018 I again spent some time in my home-country, and this time I co-founded another sustainability focused start up.
In 2017 I move to London to see if my long-distance relationship would work better in person, and also to just do a random internship. Then, in 2018 I moved to London for the third time to do my master’s. I hadn’t even gotten half-way through my master’s when I decided to break up with this London boyfriend though.
In 2018 I had such a crisis of choice, trying to decide what master’s to do. I’m happy with the choice I made, but I am also convinced that the other master’s programme would have given me more tools for coping in my top consultancy internship that I did in 2019. Most of late 2018 and 2019 I was very happy though, and I
In 2019, I graduated, left the sustainability start-up that I co-founded and I fell in love again. This time I didn’t commit to my love-interest though, and I’m actually happy about that. I moved back to my home country to do a top consulting internship. I failed at the internship though, and did not get an offer to continue full-time.
Now, I’m entering 2020 as clueless as I was in 2010. Single, just graduated, trying to figure out what to do career wise. Career and romantic love, the two things most of my mental energy seems to be focused on. In 2020, it would be cool to get at least one of them get’s at figured out for the short-term foreseeable future if not more.
Entering the roaring 20s now at age 25, feeling like I’ve really grown up a lot since 2010!
