Beginning life as a young adult is never easy. In high school, you always expect college to be one of the greatest experiences of your life. And sometimes, it really is. You get to take classes you’re really interested in, meet new people, go new places, and live away from home. But it isn’t always smooth sailing.

Sometimes, you’re going to be lonelier than you’ve ever been in your life. If you work one (or more jobs), you begin to understand the fine balance between a social and work life. You also quickly learn what taxes are and how much money it actually takes to get through the world.

While life always seems to be a waiting game, I think the 20-somethings often have it the hardest. (And I am one, so that does make me a little biased). But here we are, in college, close to graduating, or having already graduated. All we want to do is have a decent paying job, place to live, friends, and usually a spouse/kids.

I know making it through college has been, and still is, one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to go through. I had to learn a lot of “adult” stuff at 18 when I went into my second year of college when I came to Georgia Southern. I had always lived with other people, but this was the first time I’d had rent to pay on my own, get a job on my own, buy groceries for myself, cook, etc. And while I had been doing some of those things already, it certainly is not the same when you have to do it totally on your own.

Let’s just say there were a lot of tears that year. Other life situations didn’t really help either, but school and adulting was so overwhelming. I’m almost a senior, and life is still overwhelming; I mean, I work two jobs and go to school full time. Sometimes I wish it were easier, but in some ways I’m glad I have learned some of these struggles early on. Part of me really wants to believe that it will serve me well when I get my first post-college job and eventually get married.

Obviously no one can actually see into the future, so there’s no way to gauge what the next few years of my life will contain. Hopefully I graduate like normal, get a full-time job with a decent paycheck, get married like I really want to, maybe have a kid or two… But I don’t know. Once again, it’s just long periods of waiting. I’m certainly not saying people over the 20-something age spectrum don’t wait either. I think what ultimately makes it harder on the younger generation is that we see people in the prime of their life always doing more and succeeding in advancing their lives while others feel stuck in some sort of rut.

I have to admit that’s how I’ve felt the past year or two. It’s never easy to constantly see people getting that new job, fancy house or apartment, get married, have children, and so on. It makes it harder because I know I want all those things… It just isn’t my time.

My best advice to give is to just be the best you that you can possibly be. Not everything will fall into place, and sometimes things have to fall apart first. But better yourself first. Take that trip. Make those friends. Succeed in school and work. Prove people wrong.

Even though it takes a lot of effort, determination, and sometimes tears, you really can make it through. You’ve just got to give it some time. Waiting isn’t always going to be a smooth process, but there’s a light at the end.