I've been told repeatedly by many of my elder's that your 20's are the time in your life when you really get to live, if you do it right. I've seen a quote quite often on many social media outlets,

"Your 20's are your selfish years. Old enough to make the right decisions and young enough to make the wrong ones. Be selfish with your time - travel, explore, fall in and out of love, be ridiculous and silly, stupid and wild. Be 20something."

Recently I've been considering how I'd like to spend the next 8 years of my 20's with this particular quote in mind. When I look at other's in the same age gap as my own I see some are studying abroad and seeing the world, others are achieving their collegiate athletic dreams, many are even graduated and continuing towards their dreams jobs.

I personally believe it is very common for people within this phase of life to feel caught up in so many question mark scenarios where "I don't know" is the only honest answer. Where will I be in a year? Will I be married in 5 years? Do I really want to pursue this career path? Am I succeeding like the others around me? Am I mature enough? If I go to this party am I not acting "adult enough?" The questions can go on for hours.

To me, being in my 20's seems a lot like knowing you're supposed to be the adult in the room if something were to go awry while simultaneously looking for an adult that is much more "adult" to handle the situation. We are at the point in our lives where, like the quote says, we're old enough to know better, but still young enough to want to be adventurous and wild anyways.

Many of us in our early 20's are not in a marriage or have children just yet. We are able to react to situations by putting ourselves first, hence "the selfish years." However, at times I still struggle to do just that. I feel as though many of us feel the weight of the world on our shoulders, to figure out what is going to come next for us, what we want out of our lives.

Instead we should be thinking about the regret that may come from opportunities passed up on while we were in the circumstances to say "Yes, that sounds like a crazy adventure!" I get caught up on feeling "old" because 22 years have gone by and I feel as though being in my senior year of undergrad equals being old! However, the 78-year-old who spoke with me recently at my job made sure to emphasize just how young I am, "Take every emotion, experience, adventure, heartbreak, and joyful moment and consider 56 more years of every bit of it."

As I begin my second week of classes for my senior year of undergrad I hope to realize what many of us 20something year olds must; in a blink of an eye we are going to be tucking our kiddo's into their beds, waking up next to our spouse, and heading to a job we, hopefully, love. While we are anxious of the future we are missing out on the present. It is okay to be excited of the events and milestones to come, it is not okay to miss out on the "now" moments in anticipation of the future. It's important to prepare yourself, to mature, to take on responsibilities but it is also important to collect memories, laughter, and maintain friendships.

Take the Spring Break trip that is a little more expensive, the memories lost by saying no will cost far more. Jump out of a plane with only a parachute to catch you on the way down. Learn to say "no" without feeling guilty if you are being asked of something you don't want to do. Stay up having wine nights with your roommates while taking 8am classes. Concentrate on and appreciate the present, before it becomes the past. Enjoy being 20something!