Last year, I dreaded the idea that I was no longer in my mid- and early twenties. I am not getting any younger and yet my life still looked like a ball of yarn that went through a tornado.
One year has passed, and I am still straightening everything out. But here are five shows that helped me understand my pace, appreciate my age, and love where I am:
1. Thirty-Nine
Thirty-Nine is a Korean Drama about three friends nearing their forties. Living as if they were still the high school girls that bonded into a best friend trio, they learned to fall in love, appreciate life once again, and accept the next chapter of their life no matter what that looked like.
This show reminded me that I am never too old to discover new things about myself, fall in love, start a new career, and do so with my best friends next to me (if I had any). A little warning, you will ugly cry. But each tear would be worth it.
2. Little Women
For those who were not required to read this in high school, this is a story about the March sister as they grew up into little women. The book and the show chronicle the lives of these four women who started acting as characters from books they’ve read all the way to falling in love, marrying, bearing children, and living outside their childhood home.
Seeing these protagonists grow up in the film, which was beautifully portrayed by Greta Gerwig, put nostalgia in my heart for the earlier, innocent chapters of life. The show helped me accept that I will lose people close to my heart as I get older. The memories and warmth of the past will retain even if we move on with our respective futures. It also helped me understand how love is different for everyone, and I am not alone in looking for it so late.
3. Arrietty
Arrietty is a Studio Ghibli film about a tiny family that lived under a house of regular-sized people like you and me. Arrietty was old enough to begin gathering for her family and help take the reins of their survival and daily living. In the process of her learning her place as a tiny human in the world, she found herself risking the very home and life of her family.
The wide-eyed wandering girl had to let go of the world she knew to move forward and help her family survive. The film, although without a picture of the next chapter, made me understand the beauty of entering unknown, new chapters.
We will never know what tomorrow or a new year will bring. That does not mean we should hide from change.
The unknown is an adventure, and growing older—being granted another year—is an adventure too!
4. Persuasion
Anne Elliot was 28. She was considered “past her prime” and had no prospects in an era where marriage was the best thing a woman can do for herself and her family. She then finds herself face to face with a past love and a new prospect she never expected. All while understanding the results of past decisions.
Although the latest film adaptation took much away from the flesh and meat of the book, it was a mirror of how old I am and how much the bright vigor of youths has slowly distanced itself from me. It was a slap in the face of how little aware I am of the decisions that have brought me here today. The book helped me accept my wrong judgments and face them head-on.
5. Only Yesterday
Only yesterday is another Studio Ghibli film about a young woman who, like me, is in her late twenties and is still figuring herself out. She holds down a job she doesn’t love and enjoys the countryside as an escape from the reality she faced in the city.
On a 10-day vacation in the countryside, her ten-year-old self visited her out of the blue. Her past self reminded her of how seamlessly intertwined her past is with her thoughts in the present.
The film is filled with nostalgia, innocence, and the complexities of being a girl and growing up.
Only Yesterday was recommended to me by a dear cousin. The almost two-hour film is worth your time if you struggle to figure life out like me.
Now, the ache of the past that was only yesterday throbs in my heart. Even the hope that I, too, will see things fall into place and actively decide on my future.
Growing older does not mean we are growing up. It takes time to learn from the years that passed and work to be wiser. I know youth is slowly slipping through my fingers, and so, as the days go by, I will do my best to make the most of each second, right and wrong decision.
Busyzi 