@murphy1011

3 years ago

I’ve been reading a lot of these comments and it looks like a lot of you are kids/young teens/just becoming adults. I’m here to tell you, it’s not as bad as you think it’s gonna be to grow up. It’s confusing until you’re about 25 and then you get the hang of it. Take advantage of the time you have now and have as much fun as you can. When I became an adult, I thought it was over, too. I went to Florida with a trash bag full of clothes and $5. I was only 17 years old. I lived in a house with a revolving door of roommates, some who were there for years, some crashed for a few days. I went to the Florida keys for the first time, riding down from Tampa in a beat up car that we had to start with a screwdriver by touching the battery with the metal because the alternator didn’t work. It sounds awful, but I cherish the memory of standing on the side of the interstate, flashing random truckers as my friend electrocuted himself several times trying to get us back on the road. I went to cosmetology school for no other reason but to learn to cut and dye my own hair. I changed my hair color 47 times that year. I tried drugs I hated, I drank entirely too much alcohol, but I don’t regret it. I went on to get married, and quickly divorced before I was 25. We got married on a whim on a Wednesday afternoon in a court room overlooking the pacific with the janitor as our witness. We fought constantly. I also don’t regret that. I learned a lot about myself and who I want to make a life with. We’re still friends. We went cross country in a Mini Cooper twice. I saw the Grand Canyon, I saw a giant crater in Arizona. I witnessed the biggest dust storm of the past 20 years rolling over the horizon in New Mexico. I went over the San Diego border to Mexico just to order nachos every weekend for 2 months. I didn’t need a better reason. I swam in a river in Alabama that seemingly nobody knows about. I saw both coasts, went to the walk of fame and spit on the sidewalk from the tallest building in Atlanta. My ex husband and I had a son together. Pregnancy was miserable and rewarding. I was walking around at 9 months with a 8 pound bowling ball in my gut in the middle of July. When I went into labor, my husband went to get the car. I got into the elevator to go down and Drew Carey was standing there. He was trying to go to the comedy club in our building’s basement and missed his floor. He wished me luck. I experienced child birth with no epidural, in a bath tub. I hemorrhaged after and needed 4 blood transfusions. Still, not a single regret about any of it. I had a heart attack because I partied too much. I needed open heart surgery and spent 4 weeks in the hospital total. Checked out, walked 4 miles to the airport with a duffel bag and flew back home to my parents. Checked right back into the hospital the next day. I almost died from an infection. It was a learning experience. I’ve had my heart restarted with electricity. What a wild ride that was! I’ve loved many men and they’re all special to me. I helped one come out as gay, another was a whirlwind that somehow swept me up into a 15 hour flight to Australia. The next thing I knew, I was sitting next to him at sunset on a beach with my toes in the Indian Ocean. It only lasted 6 months but it was beautiful. After all was said and done, I finally found my soulmate who is sleeping peacefully next to me right now. He is the most amazing person I’ve ever met. We just bought our first house and we move in at the end of the month. I imagine us at 80 years old, yelling at each other because neither one of us can hear, going to play bingo with our friends at the senior center and the thought makes me want to cry because it makes me so happy. All that being said, I really wanted to say this: Life is crazy. It hurts, it feels good, it confuses you, it changes you. For every beautiful moment, there is immense pain. There is a good and bad side to everything. But it’s LIVING. You can go outside and feel the sun on your skin. You can taste all the amazing foods that we are so blessed to eat. You get to experience love. You get to create things. You get to look at the trees and mountains and feel the water of the oceans and rivers. Your ears get to hear music like this incredible song. You get to be ALIVE. It’s all about being ALIVE and being here, in the middle of all this. No matter how bad it seems when you look at the state of the world around you, no matter how scary it seems to grow up, always remember that you are here and there is so much for you to do and see and so little time that you don’t have any to spare for worry. It’s okay to doubt yourself. It’s okay to be confused and apprehensive of the future. It’s okay to want to hold onto your childhood, but I’m here to tell you that it’s not over when you move on from your teenage years. Becoming an adult is really where it all begins. This is your time to experience this world and you can do whatever you want with it. Stay sharp, use your intuition. Make the best decisions you can for the situation you’re in. You will fail at times, you will hurt at times. You will have the highest highs and rock bottom lows, but time is fluid and no matter what it is, it will always pass you down the river of life to the next opportunity. Don’t hold on to where you are or you’ll drown. Go with the flow. Hopefully someone reads this and it makes them a little less nervous. I promise, life is the greatest adventure one can experience. Life is the experience. Peace and love to you all kiddos, you are the future of the planet and I 100% believe that your generation will make the world a better place. You are all unique, smart, funny and beautiful. I am happy to hand the ropes down to such an amazing youth. Sincerely, -Someone who is much, much older ❤️ Edit: WOW! I didn’t expect to get this response! I keep coming back to check on this comment and I am so humbled by each and every reply! I want you all to know that I read every single comment. Sometimes my husband and I sit and read them and we are both so honored to know that there are so many loving and wonderful people out there who were moved by my story. He has your back as much as I do! I can’t always respond right away, but I do my best to get to everyone when I have the time to sit down and type out thank you messages! If I don’t reply right away, please know that I probably did read what you said and it was touching. You guys have impacted my life profoundly. If ANYONE is struggling and feels like they’re hopeless, please tag me and I’ll do my best to get some contact info your way! I can’t help everyone on YouTube or anywhere else in the world, but maybe this little corner of the internet was meant for me to find the people I can help. Thanks for reading, everyone. Love to you all from my family to yours. We can do it! 💪🏻

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