Turning 18 is one of the most stressful parts of a high school student’s life. But why? Why is there so much stress built around a birthday? Is it because you become an adult? It’s only in title and a paltry amount of taxes to pay. Well, I’m turning 18 soon, as are a number of my friends, so I’ll give this stressful birthday a good look and ask my friends how they feel about it as well.

For me, it’s a stressful day just because all of my birthdays are stressful. It’s always some kind of a hassle, because my family always wants to know what I want and where we should go to dinner. Decisions stress me out, so I have trouble deciding on these seemingly simple questions. As for 18, the fact that I will be legally an adult is, in it’s own, a difficult fact to face. I’m obligated as a citizen to vote, so that’s another responsibility that I’ll deal with, but I hope that I can at least somewhat impact my community in a positive way. In any case, I have made peace with my inevitable fate as a productive member of society. Oh well.

On the other hand, Tyler Petri, a senior, thinks about it in a completely different way. “For me, I hope that maybe I can be taken a little more seriously… I’ll be excited for people [to] not be able to use the ‘child card.”‘ He’s excited to have freedom; it is the biggest part of it this birthday for him. He’s not really worried about turning 18, but rather being a young actor in a world filled with young actors. In the end, he is mostly excited to be an adult with freedom, but perhaps not excited about the family part that goes with it.

I also asked Brandon Dasso, a senior who has been 18 for some time now. Leading up to his birthday, he was excited but a little stressed out. He knew that his “real adult responsibilities” would not actually occur for awhile. For him it was just a number, and he still lives his life like he did before he turned 18, which is exactly what he expected.

Walker Manning, also a senior, is turning 18 before too long, and his feelings closely mirror the feelings of Tyler. He’s not too stressed at all, but not excited for family reasons. Not a whole lot will change for him. But he is having a joint birthday dinner with three of his friends with birthdays around the same time, which he is very excited for.

The general consensus is that 18 isn’t something to be worried about, and that most of it is in my head. Clearly other students have a much more positive viewpoint on this birthday, and I think that I should probably adopt a similar viewpoint. I’ve been really stressed, but my peers are making it clear that it’s a birthday to be excited for. A marginal amount of freedom, and the classification of an adult. I think it’s going to be pretty good.