Ever since I was a pre-teen and Hannah Montana became the biggest thing since sliced bread, I was sucked into this world of—and I apologize or the use of such a cringe-worthy word—fangirling.

I remember, at one point, all anyone used to talk about at school was the cool new Disney Channel show. If you wanted to fit in, you would sit down and watch Hannah Montana even if that meant sitting through half-an-hour of something you hated completely.  Since it was elementary school and the concept of “being your own person” made absolutely no sense to anyone, as soon as one person started raving about the show, a new trend sparked. And thus, the generation of Hannah Montana lovers was born.

I was crazy about that show. I actually had every funny joke memorized as soon as I started watching it and, not long after, I started memorizing the songs. Every day at recess while we ran across the field, my friends and I would sing Hannah Montana songs at the top of our lungs and, at one point, a day without the mention of Hannah or Miley was completely out of the ordinary.

As young as I was, my mom installed some programs on our computer that would permit me to go on only certain sites. She didn’t need to though; the only pages I would visit were YouTube (to listen to Hannah’s songs) and OceanUp. Slowly but surely, my interest began to change from just the show to its star, Miley Cyrus, as well. My friends and I would gather around my computer when they’d come over to play and look at what Miley was doing.

Eventually, as the Internet became a larger part of my life, I became exposed to things that no one at the age of 12 should be exposed to. I learned about celebrities’ rise to stardom, their drug problems, their troubles at home, their families. At that age, everyone’s mind is fragile, like mine was. I couldn’t even begin to comprehend the scandals some celebrities were a part of. Looking up the meaning of words like “affair” and researching what effects certain drugs had on people were disturbing to me; no one I knew would ever dream of behaving in such a way—or at least I thought they wouldn’t.

I think that’s the key point here. Reading so much and learning about such dramatic situations really opened my eyes; it just happened to be that when I realized what people were capable of, I was younger than most are when they have this sort of epiphany. But look at me now—I turned out fine. Maybe it’s true that I grew up a bit faster than other kids my age; I know it doesn’t matter though, because what I learned at that age is what led me to make the decisions I have made—it’s led me to find who I am.

Hannah Montana, a show that ultimately led me to my love of music, as well as my interest in the field I want to study, is a part of who I am. While some people look back on their childhood and see baseball fields or ballet recitals, I look back at mine and see a computer.

When I look back, though, I don’t regret it one bit.

Everyone is made up of different qualities and experiences. Though we may be judged and even ridiculed for how we spend our time, once we look back and see how our experiences have positively impacted us—and see how happy they have made us–none of us should have to say that we truly regret how we found ways to have fun.  If anything, we can learn from our experiences and push ourselves to be better, brighter, happier individuals.