People are always saying that the years I'm living right now are the best years I'm ever going to live. I always believed it and as a result have always had this general sadness and anxiety about the path my life is taking. But it wasn’t until recently that I began to question this claim. Over the past year or so, I have come to realize that nobody ever really "grows up." We all just grow old. We become careful and anxious and abiding. The norms created by this society don't actually dictate what humans have the ability to do with their lives. Being a slave to a lifestyle that you don't understand doesn’t get you any credibility, and it certainly doesn’t give you any answers; it makes you scared and it makes you wasteful. Of course, moving in a different direction from others is a bold and often terrifying decision, but the fact is that people try to pretend like they are in complete control of their lives, but nobody ever is.

When I'm faced with a difficulty, it is entirely my decision how I will respond to it. There's no time in anyone's life that is guaranteed to be “better” or “worse” than another time. There are undeniably going to be parts that are more difficult than others, and everyone is going to have highs and lows, but what people often fail to realize is that each individual person has control over how they handle the difficulties that come to them. While we can't always control what happens to us, the most valuable thing to understand is that you absolutely have the right and ability to make a bad thing into a good thing. You have the power to look at people and things and events in a positive light and to practice forgiveness and understanding. You can’t blame the people in your life for what they don’t know yet and for experiences that they haven’t had. Every person who says that once you reach a certain age you have nothing left to look forward to is having a hard time understanding that it is an absolute privilege to be here. Being here, on this earth, where you are, wherever you are, is a privilege. Every mistake you make is a gift, and every sad day is a reminder that you have the beautiful ability to feel anything at all. Every day you wake up, you have the opportunity to make people smile, to display and share genuine passion for something, to make real change in someone’s life or in many people’s lives.

So the next time someone tells you not to be wasteful because you are in the best years of your life, look them in the eyes and say “so are you.”