20.

What a time to be alive. What a time to have everything figured out, while simultaneously having no clue what the heck you're actually doing.

If we're being honest, turning 20 is so overlooked. It's a precursor birthday as I'd like to call it. We've got it ingrained in our brains that this is a year that needs to come and go. This is the year that brings us one step closer to an age we've all looked forward to for so long now. We've got this idea that this time next year we'll be legally three margaritas deep at our favorite Mexican food restaurant and all will be right with the world.

When it comes to being positive, I'm your girl. I'm a firm believer in the power of a good attitude and hope for a better tomorrow. It would be ridiculous for me to sit here and say that each day is the best day of my life. If I said this, I'd be a liar. Experiencing some of the worst moments this world has to offer only prepares us to cherish the times that make everything worthwhile.

During these days that make us question everything, it's great to set our minds on something to look forward to. Positive thoughts are wonderful things to have, as long as they don't create tunnel vision. Tunnel vision can easily be turned into a phase in life at which our viewpoint of the world causes us to miss things as they pass us by.

If we're being honest, we all do it. We've all got it in our 20-year-old heads that by this time next year we'll get it together. We've played this trick on ourselves before, why are we doing it again? Let us all decide together to chill out, we can thank ourselves later.

Thinking back to when I turned 18, all I could think about was college. I was so ready to zip through my senior year to get to the next bigger and better thing. I was convinced that the next year of my life would be the best yet. I would get to start fresh, finally be an "adult" and live out the college life I'd always dreamt of. Summer came and went. Finally, I was turning 19 in my college dorm room with my newly established college best friend. What a time to be alive.

The first year of college will teach you many things. The biggest thing you will learn is that college isn't always fun. Don't take that the wrong way. Some of my favorite and most memorable moments have been made here at Texas Tech. However, when you're walking down the halls of your dorm at 11:24 p.m. on a Tuesday night dragging your laundry basket praying to god Becky from down the hall is done taking up all of the washers on your floor, you might think otherwise. Where's the laundry service, aka "Mom", when you need her?

I say all of this, to remind you that no matter what we lead ourselves to believe, everything the future holds will not be glamorous. We play this game with ourselves time and time again that, maybe, if we can make it to such and such point, life will be perfect.

Wakeup call sister, life will never be perfect and turning 21 next year will not change that. Instead of focusing on the future, let's focus on right now. 20 is a beautiful age. Our bodies are still young with the ability to allow us to be in the best shape of our lives. Our hearts have felt so much love and loss, yet we are still so new and oblivious to the deepest and darkest corners of life. We are just now able to peek into the world with enough knowledge to somewhat understand the big picture, yet being lost as to the pieces that make this picture whole. At the same time, we are still young and optimistic. We still allow ourselves to dream and create this incredible life picture without fear of failure.

This is your current day. This is being 20 years old. This is the time to design a life you love. If we all waited until tomorrow to embrace the best part of our lives, we'd be living the same day forever.

Here's to living life in the here and now.