I turned 25 a few days ago. That’s right, I can say that I have officially entered my quarter life crisis. I’m a little late to the party with writing this post, but better late than never I guess.

My birthday was never something I made a huge deal about, mostly because I hadn’t had a good birthday since I turned 18. No matter what, the night always seemed to end with me crying silently into my pillow. And no – I’m not trying to be a “pick me” and make mountains out of molehills. The shit that happened was seriously disturbing and still is hard for me to process to this day, mostly because I could never imagine treating the people I care about the way that I had been treated.

On my 19th birthday, my boyfriend at the time got completely obliterated and needed me to be his babysitter (after dragging me around to numerous bars all night so we could meet up with his friends).

On my 20th birthday, that same boyfriend ditched me to go out with “the boys”, because playing blackjack and snorting Adderall was more important to him?????

On my 21st birthday, I was dating someone new, but that didn’t matter. The night still ended with me sending a money transfer to him for our dinner, as he was unimpressed with my choice of restaurant and did not find our meal “worth it” (as I’m sure you can already guess, I didn’t bother keeping him around until my 22nd birthday).

On my 22nd birthday, I planned to have a board game night at home with my close group of friends. Little did I know my best friend at the time went behind my back and invited everyone (but me) out to the bar that night instead, and only two out of my eight friends actually came to celebrate with me.

I was on vacation with my parents for my 23rd birthday – nothing could go wrong while basking under the desert sun, right? Wrong. Although no ones fault, unfortunate circumstances de-railed the plans we had for the evening, and again my “special day” was overshadowed.

I started dating someone new just before I turned 24. For some godforsaken reason, I thought my birthday would be the perfect time to introduce my socially awkward new boyfriend to my family. Boy, was I wrong. I honestly cringe whenever I look back on this relationship (which I will delve into more, eventually, when I am ready). Anyways, he basically decided to “hide out” in my childhood bedroom all night, where he cried like a baby and attempted to make my entire birthday about him.

Needless to say, when a group of my friends invited me out to an NHL game the night of my 25th birthday, I was super hesitant to say yes. It would have been easy for me to stay home and “play the victim” to keep my record of horrible birthdays going. However, after taking some time to think about it, I decided, “what the hell”. I’d be damned if I let yet another birthday go by where I was miserable.

It’s been almost two weeks since my birthday, and I can honestly say it was one of the best birthdays I have ever had. No tears were cried, and all of my friends who were there went above and beyond to make me feel special. Holy shit – I can’t believe I am already 25. I really am looking forward to seeing what the next year has in store for me.

– k.