As someone who is watching the credits roll in her lifetime movie entitled “My Teen Years: The Awkward Years in Review” I am looking back and I find myself asking my friends if our twenties will be better than our awkward teen years. From acne cream to high school graduation, surely when we are twenty we are finally going to get a hang of this thing called “life,” right?
Here are four expectations I have for my twenties, because during my teen years I came no where close to mastering these things.
Dating
In your teens: You have one true love, Brad. Brad is the star quarterback of your high school’s football team. Brad is valedictorian and on top of it all, Brad is amazingly good looking. You silently pine after Brad all through your high school years and every other boy you meet can not live up to the expectations of Brad. Your heart is broken when you find out that you are going to state and Brad has been recruited to play at a big name SEC school. It is ok though because you and Brad will always have the romance that you built up in your mind.
In your twenties: Reality hits like a freight train in your twenties. Although you had so much dating experience in your teens (you know, Brad and all), dating in college and post college does not come naturally. The major difference between your teens and your twenties is one word: hookups. People do it all the time in their twenties so you try it just for fun, but you catch the feels hard. Being twenty now is not the same as being twenty when your parents were in your shoes.
Partying
In your teens: The extent of partying in your teens is awkward hoco dates, house parties in your parents basement and lets not forget the fun times in the local Winn Dixie parking lot. Everyone says your teen years build you and this is where you start to live, which is true; the habits you take on and the relationships you build now are what will build you as a person.
In your twenties: You definitely gain a lot of freedom in your twenties. You go from living on your parents dime to living on your own pennies. But you still pinch your pennies together to have a good time. There are many times where you will get home from work and wait five hours and go back out again. You won’t stay out past midnight because nothing good happens after midnight and you also have to get up early in the morning for work.
Comparing yourself to others
In your teens: Puberty. Ugh. Everyone changes so much in their teens, you go from playing with American Girl Dolls to driving a car in three years. But also your body changes and you compare yourself to everyone. You wish you looked like Sally from homeroom instead of what you see in the mirror every morning. Your teens are where you grow the most and it shapes you into who you will be for the rest of your life.
In your twenties: Instead of comparing looks you are comparing paychecks. You look on Facebook during your lunch break and see all of your sorority sisters getting married, buying houses and getting promotions and you can't help but want it too. Your twenties are very different from your teens as far your focuses in life. But your twenties are also where you start to feel comfortable in your own skin and instead of comparing your dress sizes with your coworkers, you're ordering a pizza for lunch and not giving a second thought about it.
Career
In your teens: You didn't want a job, but you needed a job to pay for your gas, clothes budget and whatever else your parents quit buying for you because they wanted to teach you a new word that begins with r: responsibility. You most likely get an after school job getting paid minimum wage for 4 hours a day. Your paycheck comes in and it is gone in a week. Saving is not your forte.
In your twenties: As soon as you walk across that stage to get your college degree you officially become independent. That means you have your own apartment, your own car insurance and your own rent. In order to afford all of these things you most likely work a 9-5 job and you wait on pens and needles for a promotion. Congrats, you have officially started “adulting.”
