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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Temple chapter.

It can be so tempting to try to achieve a well-rounded lifestyle at a young age. However, it is extremely unrealistic to expect yourself to live, think, and behave like an experienced person… without the actual experience. 

I was inspired to write this piece from a TikTok series I follow called “Things I Wish I Knew at 20 Instead of 45.” In this series, user @jenniferlatch shares life lessons that she wishes her 20-year-old self knew, advising her past self and her viewers by proxy. I think her videos are lovely and her advice is sound, but I can’t help but play devil’s advocate and argue that she shouldn’t wish to know at 20 the things she knows at 45.  

Life is all about making mistakes and learning from them. Personally, I think being in your 20s is all about screwing up over and over so that you can grow into a smarter and more well-rounded person. That can be hard to accept, but it’s also so freeing. Allow yourself the freedom to be imperfect now, knowing that these mistakes you make will lead you to become a wise and mature person in your 30s, 40s, and beyond. 

When I think of myself as a middle-aged woman, wrinkled, gray-haired, and aging like fine wine, I see a woman with experience and knowledge. I want to grow into a woman with a high sense of morality and wisdom, with endless stories of triumph and failure to tell. So, that only leaves one period of my life to make mistakes and learn from them– right TF now.  

Spoiler alert: You’re not going to have the wisdom of an 80-year-old woman when you’re in your 20s, no matter how hard you try. By all means, do the crocheting, collect the knickknacks, and do all the grandma stuff that makes you happy. However, even your three cats know that you aren’t really an old woman, and your choices at this time will reflect that. Don’t worry, being young and inexperienced doesn’t make you a bad person– it makes you young and inexperienced. 

It’s not like I haven’t made past mistakes that I occasionally fantasize about going back and correcting. Thank goodness time machines don’t exist, or we would all be a danger to ourselves. After all, absolutely everything that you have done in your life- every single choice you have made- has led you to where you are now. Whether good or bad, you are still alive and breathing. In a weird way, I find myself grateful for my past self’s stupidity because present me is better off. 

If I could copy and paste Jessica’s graduation speech from “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” I would, as it hits all these points (I highly recommend watching it, it changed my life…). The main idea is that it is important to make good and bad choices and change your mind over and over because nothing is permanent.

This is the time to make mistakes, and if you waste it trying to be perfect, how will you ever grow?  

Hi! My name is Morgan Ritter and I am an opinion staff writer at Her Campus Temple. I enjoy sharing my thoughts on societal goings-on and critiquing various trends and standards. I am a sophomore journalism major and history minor at Temple University. I am also a staff writer and the senior editor for REFINE Magazine and a copy editor for the Templar yearbook. When I'm not writing, you can find me exploring Philadelphia or binging a wide variety of TV shows, movies, and (occasionally) books. I am heavily inspired by the media I consume and the art that I find in everyday life and I try to inject it all into my writing.