The 10s: A Decade in Review

10 Years of Change

The last 10 years can only be described as constant change and personal growth. That does come from starting the decade as a child, to ending it as an adult.
In 2010 I was 11 years old, and at the time being bullied by some of my peers. Now, at the end of 2019, I'm 21 years old and have become someone my 11 year old self never dreamed I'd become. 

In this decade, I discovered the moral I live by, from an actor in Broadway's 'Dear Evan Hansen.'

I mean, I think it's impossible to try to worry about fitting in because no matter what happens somebody isn't gonna like you. Whether they're projecting onto you, or, you know maybe you just don't gel with that person. So I think as difficult as it is, just be your most authentic version of yourself. It's truly the only thing you can do. Because if you spend time not doing that, I think you're wasting time getting to know yourself, and you should be your own best friend.

If I could tell my 11 year old self anything, it would definitely be this. I spent so much time worrying about what I liked, who liked me, being too nerdy (believe it or not at one point I refused to wear fandom tops because I was worried about judgement), and even my writing. I tried for most of secondary school to keep it a secret because I didn't want the judgement from my peers.

But moving on from secondary school, I decided to do a round up of some of my favourite things from this decade. There won't be any photos on this post, but the list I've compiled is:

• Age
• Favourite Singer/Band
• Favourite Song
• Favourite Film
• Favourite TV Show
• Favourite Book
• A High Moment
• A Low Moment

I'm relying a lot on memory here, but I'm going to do my best to keep it true to what it was back then as I possibly can.

2010

Age: 11/12
Favourite Singer/Band: Taylor Swift
Favourite Song: Everybody in Love - JLS
Favourite Film: Twilight
Favourite TV Show: Doctor Who
Favourite Book: Bloodlust by Alex Duval
A High Moment: Achieving my yellow belt in TaeKwonDo.
A Low Moment: Being dragged into drama that I didn't want to be involved in.

2011

Age: 12/13
Favourite Singer/Band: Big Time Rush
Favourite Song: What Makes You Beautiful - One Direction
Favourite Film: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Favourite TV Show: Victorious
Favourite Book: Divergent - Veronica Roth
A High Moment: Starting KickBoxing.
A Low Moment: Being dragged into more drama - the first two years of secondary school brought me a lot of unnecessary drama.

2012

Age: 13/14
Favourite Singer/Band: One Direction
Favourite Song: Wings - Little Mix
Favourite Film: Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1
Favourite TV Show: Big Time Rush
Favourite Book: Initiation - Alex Duval
A High Moment: Getting guinea pigs.
A Low Moment: The car accident.

2013

Age: 14/15
Favourite Singer/Band: One Direction
Favourite Song: Best Song Ever - One Direction
Favourite Film: Man of Steel
Favourite TV Show: The Fosters
Favourite Book: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
A High Moment: Going to my first tattoo convention. 
A Low Moment: It seems ridiculous, but having my writing outed to a lot of the year group by one of my classmates.

2014

Age: 15/16
Favourite Singer/Band: Lyon Estate
Favourite Song: Catch Me - Lyon Estate
Favourite Film: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Favourite TV Show: The Fosters
Favourite Book: Two Boys Kissing - David Leviathan
A High Moment: Getting a short story published in an anthology.
A Low Moment: Discovering that I have exam anxiety, and low blood pressure.

2015

Age: 16/17
Favourite Singer/Band: Lyon Estate
Favourite Song: Carry on My Wayward Son - Kansas
Favourite Film: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Favourite TV Show: Supernatural
Favourite Book: Divine by Mistake - P.C. Cast
A High Moment: Seeing the short story I wrote adapted into a short film.
A Low Moment: A holiday that went horribly wrong and awakened my travel anxiety.

2016

Age: 17/18
Favourite Singer/Band: Shawn Mendes
Favourite Song: If You Know What I Mean - Lyon Estate
Favourite Film: Me Before You
Favourite TV Show: MacGyver
Favourite Book: Me Before You - JoJo Moyes
A High Moment: Getting into Derby Uni through clearing.
A Low Moment: Not getting the grades I wanted in my A Levels and missing out on my first two choices for uni.

2017

Age: 18/19
Favourite Singer/Band: All Time Low
Favourite Song: Somewhere in Neverland - All Time Low
Favourite Film: Beauty and the Beast
Favourite TV Show: Stranger Things
Favourite Book: Memories - Lang Leav
A High Moment: Going to FanFest with one of my best friends.
A Low Moment: Living with my first year housemate. It wasn't the best environment to live in.

2018

Age: 19/20

Favourite Singer/Band: The cast of Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again

Favourite Song: Talk Too Much - COIN

Favourite Film: Call Me By Your Name

Favourite TV Show: You

Favourite Book: Mythos - Stephen Fry

A High Moment: Cosplaying when I went back to the Studio Tour.

A Low Moment: Having an early piece of writing criticised without it being constructive.

2019

Age: 20/21
Favourite Singer/Band: 3ree
Favourite Song: Sincerely, Me - Dear Evan Hansen Cast
Favourite Film: Beautiful Boy
Favourite TV Show: Mindhunter
Favourite Book: Machines Like Me - Ian McEwan
A High Moment: Graduating uni with a 2:1
A Low Moment: Having a breakdown in Singapore airport - I was so overwhelmed that all I could do was cry for three hours.


And there we go. It's so interesting how much I've changed, just based on my tastes in music, literature and songs. Some of the high and low moments took me a long time to think of, particularly the 2019 one. I don't see that as a low moment, just an overwhelmed one, but it took a lot to share the photo on my personal Facebook. 

Anyway, I hope the 2020 and the 20s will allow me to grow even more as a person. 

See you soon!

-Emmaberry-


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