I was in a rut. It was the middle of summer and I felt lost. It was the kind of lost where you can’t find your mom in Costco except, in this case, it was my purpose. What am I doing with my life? Why do I feel like my career, goals and personal life have fell stagnant in the recent months? Why do I feel so unfulfilled and (gasp) unhappy? I guess it was this compilation of emotions that lead me to the self help aisle in Barnes and Noble one afternoon. True, I went in with the intention of finding some awesome stationary, but that’s another story. When I came upon The 20 Something Guide to Getting It Together by Mary Traina I immediately threw my phone in my bag and reached for it, quickly learning that it was indeed a twenty something bible.
The guide touches upon nearly every aspect of twenty something living. It begins with a section on examining just how you got into your rut and how to make space in your life to start getting it together. If I had a dollar for every time I whispered oh my god same I’d have enough money to buy a book for every person on this campus shuttle (it’s a lot). Traina then jumps into how to make your career work for you. Remember, it has to work for us just as much as we have to work to find success in it. She reminds us that every job we take should be a stepping stone to our long-term goals. Plus, the need to be proactive and start creating the next career opportunity for ourselves.
The next section is on health and appropriately titled “Your Body Is a Temple, Not a Hoarder House”. I say this as I mentally make note of the cookie butter ice cream I hid in the freezer from my father. Sorry dad. Traina comments on everything from medical expenses to a balanced diet and exercise. How she was able to weave bits of humor and wit into an explanation of carbohydrates I’ll never understand. Following that is a chapter on your love life. Ask me for relationship advice and I’ll provide an MLA citation for any section of your choosing. The sections go from the curse of striving to be lovable to the twentysomething guide to commitment. My favorite line? “If you really do love somebody, you’ll say it because you cannot not say it”.
Next, comes friendship. While reading this chapter I low-key texted each of my friends a paragraph on how much I appreciate having them in my life. Shout out to Mary Traina. She mentions the need for nurturing your friendships and that it’s truly quality over quantity. Last but not least is her chapter on debt and “how you got in and how you’re getting out”. She mentions how to properly put money aside and how to live happily on a budget, something us broke college students need.
What sets this book apart from other hubs of advice like the Cosmopolitan Snapchat story we check every morning is how it reaches to the core of what can be holding us back from achieving true success in each of these areas. It digs down deep forcing you to reevaluate your situation and, from there, teaches you how to bust out of the habit you’ve been so accustomed to for the past twenty something years you’ve been alive. It also mentions things we’ve never given a second thought about in the midst of running around campus. I can finally tell you what a 401(K) is and when telling my father this he gave me two thumbs up. I’ve never devoured a book as quickly since The Hunger Games, and as clichéd as it may sound, it’s changed my life. No matter what age you are or where you are in life I hope you pick up this book. We’re all twenty somethings at heart anyway.