Five-years-ago, when I was 21, I believed I would have my entire life together. I imagined I would be working full-time at my dream job, married and living in suburbia. Man, I was mistaken.

Fast forward to now, I'm 26 years old. I don't work full-time, nor am I working in my dream job. I'm still working on getting my Masters of Social Work degree, and I don't own a home. I'm still trying to figure my life out. I thought I would have had my degree by now, but due to both financial and personal woes, I had to rearrange my life and attend classes part-time instead of full-time.

You could say I'm experiencing somewhat of a quarter-life crisis and most days, I have no idea what I'm doing or what I'm meant to do.

We all have this preconceived notion that we should have our shit together by the time we're in our mid-twenties. Society has a tendency to push these "norms" onto us, such as the whole idea of working full-time in one's career of choice by the age of 24, or being married by the age of 25 or owning a home somewhere in between. Well, reality doesn't work that way when a majority of us are carrying a massive amount of student loan debt and struggling to find jobs that pay a living wage and offer decent benefits.

I have days when I am completely down on myself and feel like a failure because I'm not where I want to be in life at 26. For example, I had an interview for what seemed like a promising job, but I received a rejection letter a week after the second interview and I was crushed. Those negative thoughts and feelings came flooding back instantly. I sat on my bed and cried for several hours, believing that I was so close to retying a knot that had been unraveled at some point, in regards to my professional life.

As the week continues, I'm slowly regaining my confidence and pushing back against the negative thought loops I find myself up in after an unpleasant experience or situation.

I have to remind myself that not being chosen for a job I interviewed for isn't a failure, it's simply experience. I am not inadequate nor am I "falling behind" in life.

I am on the path I am meant to be on. I'm not a religious person, but I often ponder the idea we are in the place we're meant to be at a specific time in our life, even if we don't feel it's right.

The fact of the matter is that most of us are doing the best we can with the means we have available to us. We will always endure obstacles and challenges, but we can't let them knock us down from achieving our dreams and goals.

To the other mid-twentysomethings reading this who feel lost: You are not lost. You are where you're supposed to be in your life. So what if you haven't finished that degree yet or you're not fulfilling the status quo? The status quo is overrated anyhow. You'll get to where you want to be. It may not be tomorrow or next year, but you'll make it.

I'm doing just fine and so are you.