Being a 20-something in this day and age can be challenging to say the least. It's hard not to constantly compare yourself to your friends, fellow students, and everyone else around you. Social media has made everyone else's business your own. So when we see our peers getting new jobs, traveling the world, and making a name for themselves, it may seem like we should be doing all of those things, too. We have to be on some sort of "schedule" to success and happiness. If I've learned one thing in my limited 20-something experience, it's that it is perfectly OK to not have everything in your life figured out.
We've grown up in a society that groomed us to have a career in mind by the time we start college and to spend our time in college preparing for said career. We're supposed to go to school, study, maybe work a job, have an internship or two, and start putting our name out there to make connections all while trying to stay as sane as possible. For some, this may be an easy task. For others who are struggling or may not know exactly what their future holds, I'm here to say that's completely fine because I have been, and still am, in the same boat.
I spent a lot of my college career playing what seemed like a game of catch-up. I had friends around me who all knew what they wanted to do with their lives and were on their way to great success. I felt like I was stuck in a hole I couldn't dig out of and ended up making some choices that didn't bring me any happiness. That's the one thing I think people tend to leave out of their life goal: Happiness.
It's an interesting concept: Go to school, work hard, and get to somewhere you really didn't want to be in the first place? I realized this was something I didn't want to be part of, and I'm sure many of you don't want to be either. I also realized that just because I don't have things figured out completely right now doesn't mean I won't ever have them figured out. To all of you that do know where you're headed, I applaud you, and I have respect for you. You made goals for yourself that you set your mind to, and it paid off.
But everyone has different goals and just because someone you know on Facebook got a cool new job in a different state doesn't mean that is the goal you have to set for yourself. We are all on different journeys, and our lives are going to play out in different ways. That's just how it works. I think this is something that we all should try to understand, and I think it will bring a lot less stress, more peace of mind, and more happiness into people's lives.
