"We are too busy dancing to get knocked off our feet.” I remember screaming this line from the song New Romantics with all my heart. I was jumping and dancing all over my room in 2014 when the 1989 album came out. I was 13, and also extremely obsessed with Taylor Swift. So of course, I listened to the whole album in one sitting when it released, and could not contain my emotions at all (my mom had to come into my room several times to tell me to quiet down). To this day, at the age of 21, sometimes I cannot help but jam out to New Romantics just like I did as a kid when it comes on shuffle. Its nostalgic for numerous reasons: the fun pop music of the time, but also that period of my life, which was filled with melancholy, and yet adversity. I was 13 when my parents divorced. It felt like my whole world crumbled before me. I had a feeling my parents were never happy together, but to see them truly become apart was heartbreaking for me. My mom moved out, and my parents split custody. Yet, they lived in two different cities, and I had to travel between both houses. I had to watch them fight even more... even in court. I always said I’m going to “my dad/mom's house” or “the house in [city name]”. It was hard to call somewhere my “home”. When I told my friend, I felt like she did not really care. I suddenly started to feel embarrassed. Everyone at my school seemed like they lived perfect lives; their parents picked them up from school, while I had to take the crowded city bus to get to my dad’s house. But, when I heard New Romantics by Taylor Swift, I felt so moved. To hear her singing of a life without care and with happiness meant everything to 13 year old me. Before, I wanted to live a different life than my own, but I realized while listening to that song that I did not need to. I should not care about others; their own situations or thoughts about me does not really matter. All that matters is that I am here in this world, and that I should just live. I should just get up and dance without any worry in the world. And I did on that night in 2014, listening to my favorite song on 1989: New Romantics.

As I grow older, I realized how fast life is going by. I am turning 21 this year, but I feel like I was 16 yesterday. In a couple years, I will graduate college and become a fully fledged adult. I will have to leave my parents house and get a job. It is absolutely terrifying, thinking about how I would have to leave my current life behind. Months ago, I felt more on the opposite end. I wanted to hurry up and finish college. And before that, I wanted to hurry up and finish high school. All this hurrying made me fail to realize I should be living in the present. However, although my present is quite simple, it is a simple life that I know I will miss years later. I love waking up and hearing the birds my mom keeps in the kitchen sing and chirp happily. I enjoy toasting a cream cheese bagel. I get excited when I see my friend text me about a new anime she is watching. I like to go biking around the neighborhood, around 5pm when the weather is slightly chilly and the sun is setting. These are all simple things in my life, but they are what fulfills my life. I know that when I graduate, I would have to abandon some of these things. But for now, I will just continue to live on and enjoy these little things. I will just keep going forward, thankful that I can have these moments.