My favorite story of all time is Peter Pan. The idea of escaping reality and maintaining my youth is this fabulous concept that I've always held in my heart. Being a teenager has been my life for the last six years and I lost myself in the Neverland that is the teenage years. Then I realized, I'm becoming an adult and there's no Peter Pan to save me.
I like to call this stage in life the teenager limbo. A time where you still consider yourself a teenager, but you are technically an adult. You want to discuss band members and fashion, but are slowly turning your interests to politics and the real world. And it's not like you can choose a side because both of them intrigue you. You're waiting for a sign to show you which age group defines you now.
I made my career on being a teenager. I named my own blog "Teenage Enthusiasm" for heaven's sake. That's because being a teenager has been a defining point in my life. The problems that plague teenage lives are the things I understand. Throw a boy problem my way and I'll have it solved in half an hour. But the rest of the world, the "adult" problems that I'm facing now as a university student, they don't fit with me as comfortably yet.
My years of moving around have made me incredibly adept to new environments. New school, new house, new friends, new haircut, throw me in the pit of fire and I'll come out just fine. And when move-in time came for university, I knew that I could persevere in this new world. Seven months in and being at school has never felt more natural to me. But it is an adult world now. I have to take care of myself. I signed my lease for my apartment next year. I get taxes taken out of my paycheck and will have to file next year. I buy everything with my own money.
The moment I realized I wasn't a true teenager anymore I had a bit of an identity crisis. Being a teenager was my life. But I grew out of it, just like my diapers when I was a kid. It's time to start being serious. And by serious, I mean moving onto adult jobs and opportunities. I'm always going to make ridiculous selfie faces, teenager or not. And that's why this is my resignation letter for Huffington Post Teen. I love my time on here, I love the people I've met (seriously, go give the other HuffPost Teens some love, they are incredibly talented!) and I wish I had a few more years to write with them. But the adult in me knows that it's time to move on.
While there may technically still be a teen attached to the end of my age, my current life situation is telling me that adult is more fitting. Kids my age are getting married and having kids and earning their degrees. And while I want to delay as long as I can (still waiting for a cute celebrity to bump into me at a coffee shop and live happily ever after) I know that I can't wait out the inevitable much longer. It's time to get out of the teenager limbo and choose a side.
There are plenty of other people in the same situation as me. And I know they're making decisions like I am; where you have to figure out whether your teenage life or your adult life fit you more. It's going to take some self-reflection, so break out the Nutella and your trusty notebook before you start.
I say goodbye to Huffington Post Teen and the amazing people I've met through it (we're still friends though, right guys?) and will always cherish the memories I've had in this place. And as I move on to adult publication, I know that the amazing roots I've made here led to all the amazing things I will do in the future.
It all started with me defending celebrity privacy and moving onto introverts and secondary characters and it ends with becoming an adult. I will always be a teenager at heart, but we've all got to grow up at sometime.
Just know I'll be the lady at my 50th high school reunion still talking about Harry Styles.