As a child, I went through varied phases. These stages continue to change with age and maturity.  

As I continue to grow in and out of these phases, I notice that I look back on some of them and feel embarrassed, or I think “why did I even like that,” but then I recall that in the near future, I will look back on my current 15-year-old self, and I will consider the same thing. 

My first phase as a three-year-old was an obsession with dinosaurs. I know, it’s crazy, but dinosaurs were my “thing” back then. Everything I had was dinosaur themed; my blankets, my stuffed animals, my toys, and anything else you can imagine. I also remember having dinosaur pajamas that were actually from the little boy’s section at Target, but of course, I didn’t mind. I was confident. 

There was a time when the museum had a dinosaur exhibit where visitors could walk around and get up close to enormous, life-like dinosaurs that actually moved.  These robotic creatures were surrounded by gates so that no one could touch them. Now obviously, this was the most amazing experience for me because the dinosaurs appeared to be real. Three-year-old me was in awe to be standing in front of “real live” dinosaurs, or so I thought. I’m sure I didn’t understand at that stage of life that dinosaurs were extinct; I probably thought that they lived in the museum.  

After I ended my love of dinosaurs, it changed quickly to horses. This is a phase of my life that I will never look back on and wonder why it encompassed the majority of my time and thoughts. I am certain that this is a phase I will never grow out of and, obviously, haven’t yet. When my passion changed from dinosaurs to horses, not just the phase changed, but everything else changed as well. My room was now horse themed, every toy I owned was a horse or a horse-related toy, and we even had to put away my dinosaur pajamas. My world had changed, and I had discovered a new passion. 

Having a liking for horses and entering this new phase in life introduced me to new T.V. shows and books about horses. The popular TV show called My Little Pony quickly took over our family T.V. set. I’m quite certain that I had every single My Little Pony figurine that was ever made. I had boxes and boxes of them, large and small. 

Years after I stopped playing with My Little Pony, I was able to begin the next phase in my life, riding real horses. I started riding horses when I turned nine. This drew me to collecting and playing with more life-like horses, riders, and stables. I collected numerous amounts of horse toys from popular brands such as Schleich and Breyer. I had barns and pastures set up throughout our basement along with hundreds of tiny horses and riders.   

I continue to ride horses today as well. But when my sister came along and showed an interest in playing with and collecting these horses too, I realized that maybe I was too old to be playing with toys. Accepting the fact that I was indeed too old, I entered the new and most recent phase in my life: watching various YouTubers. 

I started out being most intrigued by Minecraft videos, such as Stampy Cat, IBallisticSquid, and their friends. Then, I was discovered Liza Koshy, David Dobrik, and Colleen Ballinger.  The Dolan Twins were also considered a first for me.

I was a big fan of Grayson and Ethan Dolan. I had a fan account with some of my friends, and I was obsessed with their videos. Every Tuesday, they would post a new video, and I would post on my Instagram story, “Happy Dolan Twin Tuesday.” I was convinced that there was no way that I would ever stop watching their videos. I have moved past the majority of the YouTubers mentioned above, as most of them have changed their YouTube style. 

With my love for horses still deeply rooted in my soul and not wanting to give up my newfound love for YouTubers, I wasn’t sure what videos to delve into next. I needed something else. 

On TikTok one day, I saw a video of a Minecraft YouTuber who was doing all of these amazing “stunts” on the game. I was intrigued with what I saw, and so I wanted to look deeper into it. I looked up his channel name, Dream, on YouTube and found hilarious videos of his friends hunting him down while Dream was trying to beat the game. I later dug deeper into it and found out that there are so many more Minecraft YouTubers.  I even started watching Twitch streamers on what’s called the “Dream SMP,” such as Tommyinnit and Wilbur Soot, who are two of my favorites. 

Moving into this phase, I have changed my room to fit my style, and my phone is filled with videos and pictures of the Twitch streamers. I am thrilled that I’ve found my new stage in life. I know I’ll look back on it someday as something embarrassing, childish, or odd, but for now, I’m comfortable in my skin, and I look forward to my next phase.