Thinking back on the last decade brings back a lot of nostalgia. Songs like Katie Perry’s Teenage Dream, One Direction’s What Makes You Beautiful, and Fun’s Some Nights all sound a little bit different when you listen to them now; they all take you back to the time when you were just entering middle school or on the tail end of your elementary school experience. Reminiscing about your past can be a great way to bring back memories you never thought you had. 

But what’s next? What will the next decade have in store for us?

If you’re a senior, the very start of the decade will be marked with graduation; soon after that, you’ll find yourself either moving away from your parents’ homes and going off to college or maybe even commuting. If college isn’t in your sights, you might see yourself becoming a fully independent 18 or 19-year old. For current juniors the start of the decade will be marked with your senior year, the last year you will experience high school life, which is significant in its own way. It might seem crazy, but that all of the previous changes that I just mentioned will be happening in less than 10 months!

In the early 20s, you’ll most likely find yourself in college paving your own future. Depending on where you go, you’ll experience parties and football games or even late-night shenanigans with your new peers. You also might even purchase your own apartment for the first time. 

Somewhere during your time in college, you will hopefully meet the person you’ll spend the rest of your life with; it might seem crazy to you, but that person is walking around somewhere on this planet right now, just waiting for you to find him or her in this next decade. 

Let’s say you’ve found the one and you have a set job that pays enough for you to buy your first home. There’s also a chance that you will be starting your very own family! By now it’s probably the mid to late 20s and you probably have that dream job or you’re still trying to climb the ranks to obtain it. What’s next after that? Well by the tail end of the next decade, you might see yourself driving your new child to preschool, teaching them how to read, or even helping them write the alphabet.

 The bottom line is, this next decade will be the very same decade that our lives change the most. As the last decade transitioned us from elementary school to high school students, the next ten years will transition us from reckless teenagers to fully independent successful human beings.