Sitting down in your hair dresser's chair can sometimes turn a simple color and cut into a much-needed therapy session. I'm not sure if they realize it, but hairdressers are so much more than stylists. Dawn, my amazing hair stylist, always seems to have so much insight on what is going on in the world. So, when I went to my hair salon the other day I was really looking forward to talking with Dawn. We always talk about the many different things that are happening in our lives. Our talks almost always include dating, school, and what all we're up to. When I told her some of the things that I have done this summer, we started talking about how it seems like there is always so much pressure to have everything figured out in a certain amount of time.

This had me thinking about how much pressure I put on myself to have things figured out, and I am only 20 years old. So, why do we do that? When I told this to Dawn, she just looked at me and said, "Why?" There shouldn't be a time slot for you to figure out your career path or your husband/wife or anything about life. For some reason, people feel the need to have everything set in place by a certain age and feel defeated when they didn't reach their dream job at age 23.

Life takes time. It's hard to come to terms with letting life happen the way it should. Maybe that means getting married at 35 or landing your dream job at 40. Sure, that may not be what you wanted, and maybe your best friend is set in her career or married. So what? We are all different in this world, and that's what makes life so great. Just because someone seems that they have it all together doesn't make them any better at living life than you. Be proud of yourself for where you are in life. Maybe your best friend is working a great job, but you are also thriving and learning in many different areas. It's so important to have goals and ambitions and work towards them. Life will knock you down sometimes but always get back up because it will work out how you want it to in the end.

I received a fortune in a fortune cookie at P.F. Changs last year that I still keep in my phone case that says, "Keep going, it will all work out the way you want it to." It's nice to have this as a constant reminder to stop putting so much pressure on myself "to get my life together" in a certain amount of time. Besides, does anyone ever really have it figured out? In the wise words of my mom, "I'm 46 and still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up."