As I am about to hit 27…. I can say being in my 20s is something I did not expect it to be at all. I thought you graduate college and everything works out, that wrinkles don’t exist until your closer to 40 and that it wouldn’t be as hard to stay in shape. Don’t get me wrong these are amazing years… really! I worked my dream job, then quit my dream job, changed my life perspective, created my own job and traveled the world. Honestly it’s pretty cool, but when you are little it seems like there is more of a clear path. But being what I term a “real adult” you find that there is no path at all. Here are some of the things I have learned while creating my own:
1. Nobody Likes you when you’re 23
What’s my age again? The hit song by Blink 182 never resonated with me until I turned 23, up until then I just liked the song but I didn’t think it had any meaning. Once you hit that faithful age you find yourself a strange purgatory, you’re done with college but you’re not quite grown up yet. Your whole life you say I’m going to go to elementary school, I’m going to go to high school, then college, then get a job, get married have a family and ta-da! Well, 23 marks the point as far as you really had planned for and now you are out on your own and it finally hits you that you’re finally at “the rest of your life.” So, it isn’t so much that nobody likes you but you just finally realize that you’re in a completely unchartered territory of life. And that’s okay.
2.You still have no idea what you want to do with your life
Now that you have finally realized that this is the rest of your life, it hits you; The decisions you make now are not as easy as changing your major. While you may have your goals or even a dream job you start to realize how much the decisions you make today could change the rest of your life. The number one tip I could say here is: DO IT! Do what you want, do what feels right. Life is too short to not live your passion and to not be happy.
3.It’s a lot easier to drop the negative people in your life
There comes a point in your life where you have a good idea of who you want in your life and who you don’t. This happened to me recently. I used to hold onto people but you realize quickly not to waste time on people who don’t serve you and trust me it get’s a lot easier. In fact, it becomes liberating to have the power to chose who you want in your life. It is starting to make sense why people in their 80s and 90s don’t care about much, they have definitely mastered this.
4. Your mom was/is right about everything she told you
She’s already been there so of course but once you see it for yourself it’s a whole new perspective. The “popular kids” are not as cool as they seemed and people start to appreciate the nice guys. You’re in bed by ten pm and you like to read and take naps. It really happens.
5.You start to become a lot more confident with who you are
I remember when I was little I was afraid to speak out and say what I thought was cool. If I was shopping I didn’t want to show my friend the outfit I liked in fear that they would say “ew.” Looking back I don’t know why, didn’t you always think the kid that was cool was the one who was confident in whatever it was they liked? I’ve realized now the things about us that are different is what makes us cool. We have to own who we are! Our uniqueness is our special gift to the world.
I’ve heard when you are in your 30s you really find yourself. And that makes sense, the 20s is coming of age, and learning how to adult. But the more I “adult” I’ve realized that most grown ups don’t know what they are doing. It just appears that way but everyone is just making it up as they go and somehow it works. And I think that is beautiful. I think that is the secret. Don’t be so hard on yourself. We are all in this together. Somehow you will get wherever you are going.
Just go!