Coming from someone who likes to have everything organized and planned out ahead of time way in advance, it can be difficult to accept that life does not always go as we have perfectly planned it in our minds. I am one of those people who writes little notes to myself of things I need to do and I write major events on a calendar so I can properly prepare for what is to come throughout the week. I know, I definitely have OCD, but I embrace it so it's okay.

I have been this way for the majority of my life. I'm always worrying about the next thing that I have to do and failing to be fully present in the moment sometimes. This is a downfall of mine that I am eagerly working on every single day and strive to master. However, as I grow older I am slowly realizing that we can try to plan all we want, but life takes us through twists and turns that we never expect and THAT IS OKAY.

I recently graduated with my Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and I had this great plan and expectation of myself to continue on to graduate school to pursue a Master's Degree right after. I sent out all of my applications to the colleges that had programs that interested me and did everything in my power to prepare for this new chapter in my life.

The time finally came where I would find out if I got accepted into the programs or not after anxiously waiting for months on end, and as you can probably guess, I was not accepted into any of the Master's programs that I applied to. I was devastated, to say the least, because I had the perfect plan in the back of my mind for what was to come next in my life and it felt like I was back to square one.

After a while, I was able to come to a realization that it is OKAY that I did not get accepted. It is OKAY that I take some time off from school. It is OKAY that my life is not going as I had planned it because as cliche as it is, everything happens for a reason.

So, if you are anything like me and you feel like you MUST have your entire life figured out at 20-something years old, then fear not because you are in the same boat as me and plenty of others. But let me just tell you that it is perfectly normal to not have your life planned out at this time in your life. You may feel like you have to because everyone is asking you what the next step is in your life, but ultimately, it is YOUR life and you have the power to do whatever you want with it.

If you want to take some time off before continuing your education, or go travel and experience new places, go ahead and do it while you are young! At 20-something years old, this is the time where we all should go try new things and explore before life really starts to hit us and we are too invested in our careers to get that time back.

Our lives are precious, so don't waste it worrying about having every little detail figured out while you are young. Just go out and make the most of it while you can and let everything else come naturally. It's perfectly normal to fall off the path you attempted to pave for yourself, but eventually, your life will turn out the way it is supposed to in the end.