At 23, I thought I would have my life figured out. I would have either graduated or be on the brink of graduating from college. I had considered the possibility of being in a relationship or exploring options, and I thought I would have traveled the world. Ultimately, I thought I would have accomplished something, but I feel like every step forward is two steps back. When I go through social media, all I see are posts of colleagues who are tackling what society considers huge milestones in their lives, whether it is getting married, graduating from college, starting families, being promoted in their job… just living their best life.
However, who’s to say I want to complete those milestones? Maybe I just want to visit all the national parks of the United States, or maybe I want to read and complete a book once a month. That is what has taken me awhile to understand. It is not that I feel old in my early 20s, it is that I am maturing, and I am growing into myself. No one ever said that we were supposed to have any idea of what we’re supposed to do with our lives once we graduate college. Not every decision is set in stone, and that is the beauty of our early 20s. We have time to explore and understand ourselves. And whatever society considers successful milestones do not have to pertain to anyone else.
We choose what our milestones are, we choose what we want to do with our life, and what our successes can be. It does not matter if you’re in your early 20s, late 30s, early 70s. Our age should not be in question when we are seeking what to do with our lives. We as people, regardless of age, are allowed to question ourselves and are allowed to analyze our successes and our failures. As long you have a great support system—be it your family, friends, academic counselors, or even the barista who comes through with the great foam designs for your morning coffee—eventually you will get to where you need to go. It is okay to stress about life and to question if we’re making the right choices, but let’s not be too hard on ourselves. We’re still evolving, and the best times of our lives may be the ones we’re letting slip by (as we’re stressing about the ones that have not happened yet). So live your live, enjoy the present, embrace the moments, love yourself, and somehow everything may fall into place.
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