“You realize you are not alone, right? No one in their twenties has life figured out. It’s okay to be a mess. You’re living.”
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Your twenties can be such a bizarre time in life. Everyone is moving at a different pace, different direction, and it sometimes feels like you are stuck watching it all happen. You’re still growing into the person you are meant to be, still learning and taking new experiences for everything they are worth. By the time that decade ends, you are an entirely different person than the bright eyed young adult who blew out the candles on their 20th birthday. Looking at the world then, it is so wide and beautiful, there are so many possibilities, and yet navigating this world can be trickier than we anticipate. The one guarantee? So much changes in your twenties, and if you’re lucky, it is all for the better.
We all often find ourselves feeling during these days. One minute knowing exactly where we’re going and how to get there, and the next questioning if it is truly the right path. Our minds change so many times that the end goal becomes the complete opposite of what we originally thought it would be, a new story still being written. As we change and see what feels right in our lives, the life we want changes. Deciding who you want to be when you are still growing up is a big decision, and the amount of times our minds change resembles that of a little kid, picking a new career every few days.
Everyone seems to have an opinion on where you should be, what step you are supposed to be checking off the list. It’s as if there’s a laid out plan you should be following, and if that is not exactly what is happening somethings wrong, you are not succeeding, but the truth is everyone’s path is different. Sure, for some it’s more straightforward, they pick a career, go to school, graduate and go to work, but for so many others there are detours along the way. You might change your mind, come across a new opportunity, reevaluate and see that what you were pushing was what someone else chose for you, not what you truly want. It can be so scary to not have a clear plan, to know that life might go off course and change the plan, but how lucky are you to have the chance to go after what makes you happy?
The relationships you have will change more than you expect. Your friends, family, romantic partners, all of it. You will learn who is truly there for you, who will support you and believe in you when you least believe in yourself. People you thought would never leave, who would always be a part of your life may walk away. It can be hard to accept, easy to blame yourself and wonder if you did something wrong to suddenly lose the people you once cared so deeply about. In the end, people grow apart, but those who are meant to be a part of your story, who will give you the love you deserve, they will be in it for the long haul.
No matter what, everyone’s life will change more than we can imagine in our twenties. Careers, dreams, relationships, this time is meant for us to grow, try new things, to have adventures, to fall in and out of love and live our dreams with our favorite people. You may not know what to do at all times, but you want to know a secret? No one really does! Everyone is trying to understand and figure out what they are supposed to be doing, and in reality, feeling a little lost is ok. You are not alone, and though it may not always seem that way, you are exactly where you are supposed to be.