And they say 21 is the age of having "identity crisis"...

I heard this claim over the Oprah's show two weeks ago. She was interviewing Julia Roberts, and there's this image of Julia in a "funny" dress about 10-12 years ago. She mentioned about how confused she was during that time, not knowing how to dress herself, to present herself etc. Oprah said that 20's are the age of confusion, and trying to find your true identity, discovering your personal self, trying to figure out how to live this life etc. She did emphasize on the age of 21 as the begining of the quest of discovering yourself.
Perhaps it is true, but I think I've started my "self-discovering" journey since the day I realised that life is complicated and meaningful but at times too predictable (?). And that should be around the age of 12-15 probably. I believe that it is an on-going process.

-Fifteen years ago I was this lil shy girl who would cry because she lost her school bag, or her favourite mug in school.
-Ten years ago, I kicked a boy after my Silat training because he splashed water to my face. We had a fight in the rain, few months later I found out that he had some sort of heart problem. Felt guilty for ten minutes, and then the hell lah with him!! Who asked you to splash water at my face?
*But I was still the same shy girl, low self-esteem etc.
-Secondary school was a different phase of life, and hostel was like a different level of hell hehe, but I survived, and am sure proud of myself. I think joining the public school had changed me in some ways, I became more out-spoken, gained more self-confidence, more friends, more enemies perhaps, and I did feel there's something wrong in my life. I wasn't being myself, I guess(?)
-I felt stupid when I first joined the matriculation centre, literature back then was definitely NOT my subject! It's like I was the only one who didn't know the meaning of plot, theme, point of view, etc.etc. I learned lots of new words in new contexts. Had to force myself to actually SPEAK in english. In school I used to write a lot in english, and whenever I was spoken to in english I would reply in Malay - lack of confidence, that's the biggest challenge. Funny though, I was the school english debater hehehe!!
-Now, I'm in my final year (completing my 1st degree lah)...I'm still trying to overcome my shyness although some people I know would laugh in utter disbelief at this claim (I'm kinda kaypoh with people that I'm close and comfortable with).

I'm still in the search of my true self, my identity...it's an on-going, ever changing process. I believe that the 6 year old Alia is still within me, the shyness, the awkwardness, the foolishness, the bravery, the outspoken Alia, the childish Alia etc. I can't throw away the Alia in the past because it is part of me, so once in a while it would come out and surprise everybody...Identity crisis? It's part and parcel of life. I have my own dreams, and mission in this life, and I believe that I'm a focussed and determined person. I would put in as much effort to realize the dreams...and one day, you might come across a fully equipped gym bearing my name on it ^_^