On this day…

1. Ludwig von Beethoven, my favorite classical composer, was born on this date in 1770
2. Jane Austen, whose stories kept me on my toes, was born on this date in 1775
3. The Boston Tea Party took place on this date in 1773
4. 25 years ago, the Winter Soldier assassinated Howard and Maria Stark

… but I was also born on that day! I turn 25 today! (And I’m delighted to be birthday buddies with Beethoven, Austen, and throwing tea into the Boston harbor!) (Sorry about your parents, Iron Man.)

My birthday often gets lost in a frenzy of end-of-year pushes, holiday plans, and exams — despite the fact that I have not had to take a December exam for over 3 years, the anxiety lives on! By the time I got to high school, I stopped doing larger celebrations for my birthday so that I could focus on studying for midterms and, later in college, finals. (This coincided with the time I stopped having joint birthday parties with my younger brother, whose birthday comes just a few days before mine!)

25 is an arbitrary milestone but a milestone nonetheless. I am at the mid-way point between 20 and 30. I am not longer in my “early 20s” but firmly the most “mid-20s” I will ever be. It’s the quarter century mark and, to me, it feels like the year that my teenage years truly get left behind. There are still times when I start telling people I’m 19 when I stop and realize that I haven’t been 19 for a long time.

25 feels like it might be the year that adulthood stops patiently waiting for me to be ready for it and shows up, ready or not. I had planned to welcome it in with 25 goals for my 25th year, or 25 lessons I’ve learned over the past 25 years…
… but I got a bit tired. (Oops, it’s been an exhausting few weeks.) And I have a resolutions post coming up really soon, so I will shelve sharing my goals until then.

By the time this post goes up, I will be wrapping up a morning rave and emerging into the well-below-freezing DC air. On the one hand, I feel like 25 isn’t very different, and maybe I’ve been ready to be 25 for quite some time. On the other hand, I have this inkling that this milestone will be felt by a marked change in myself.

I hope it’s a positive change.

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If you are older than 25, what is some advice you might give to yourself at this age?
If you are younger than 25, what are the things you want to accomplish at this age?
Do you have any fun birthday traditions? Mine seem to be… shout-outs to my favorite birthday buddies and avoiding talking about my birthday to see who remembers it. I have learned that this is annoying to some people who don’t like being “tested” and would rather people not be so secretive about their birthdays, but I tell myself that I do this to keep my ego in check.