Think back to when you were in your early teens. Go even further and try to recall your elementary years. The 20-something college students had it made. Do you remember what is was like to look up to those college-age people in your life and want your future to be like theirs? I still do.
For some reason, when we were younger, the people who were our age now had it all together. Those individuals had jobs, friends, money, and all that was necessary to make it through life. At least that’s what we thought. I think we can all agree that image we had of the 20-somethings as children is a myth. As most of us are typically approaching the 20’s while others are already there, we begin to see just how wrong we were as kids.
While most of us are not on the side of the road begging for money, I dare to say that each time our student accounts have a new balance due, we all cringe inside. Some may be friends with the university, or so they want us to think, but normal students have a close group of friends and that’s about it. Of course, there are always those we associate with as networking, but let’s be honest wit ourselves and know that we do not all have 684 friends at the tip of a hat. For some reason, when I was little, every person in their 20’s seemed to have a grown up job. While, there are definitely those who get internships and begin to line up post-graduation jobs, the rest of us are out here working mediocre retail or food service. Not to say anyone who chooses those venues as a career is less than the rest of us, but at the age we are now, most people are going to be at the bottom of the totem pole with those jobs.
As we grow older, we are learning that we had a very different perspective of life as child. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s just a thing. It is important for us to recognize that we are not failures just because we don’t meet the description of our 9-year-old’s perception. There is no wrong or right as to where we should be, or checkpoints we must meet by a certain age. We are all going through the same thing. We are figuring out what is best for us one day, one week, one month, and one year at a time.
HCXO!