There is nothing wrong with being comfortable. In fact, after a long day there is literally nothing that thrills me more than the feeling of whipping off my bra and throwing on my rattiest sweatpants while wrapping myself in a comforter cocoon only to emerge after my Fuller House Netflix binge is over. We all love being comforted, feeling secure, and safe. Comfort is an amazing thing and there is no doubt in my mind that at certain points in life seeking comfort is a privilege and top priority for most people. But at 24, I’ve realized something really important about comfort--and, it’s the fact that right now, the last thing I want to be is comfortable.
Now I’m not talking about the fuzzy slippers comfortable anymore. I’m talking about being comfortable with my life as it is right now. You see, I am only just starting out in my own life. I have just recently googled “What is a 401k?” for the first time after hearing it mentioned in a rap song. I am driving a car that I am not constantly parking on a hill just in case I need momentum to start it. I actually pay my own bills, mostly on time. I am finally describing myself as a "real person" instead of a college student, a distinction my friends and I often made during college. At this fledging stage of adulthood, I think the very worst thing I could be is comfortable.
Why? Because I haven’t made it yet. I have not yet truly discovered my passion or I've not done everything in my power to go after it. I have yet to travel to the places I swore I’d see before I became too jaded to appreciate them. I have yet to meet a man who sets my soul on fire and is 100% on my team. I have yet to set goals and aspirations that thrill the hell out of me and also terrify me, and start chasing them. In your 20s you should embrace these feelings. You should embrace the “IDK WTF I’m doing but I’m sure as hell going to do it” way of life because your 20s are the time when it is 100 percent okay and expected to feel that way. I’ve realized that the thing that scares me more than jumping into the uncertainty of chasing my dreams is the idea of not doing so.
In 10 or 20 years, when someone asks me about this time in my life, I just don’t want to say that I was fine. That I got through each day. That I did what was expected of me. No. What I want is to say that I freaking tried things. I moved to a new city. I went after job opportunities that scared and excited me. I took risks on people and places. I took chances on myself.
And I want to say that I was fearless.
That I realized that the recipe for living my best life was the place where faith met fearlessness and the will to succeed. I've decided to live by the personal mantra of fate loves the fearless, or that life will give you the opportunities to chase after your wildest dreams as long as you have enough courage to do so. Your 20s to me, are the time where you have to meet the universe halfway. You don't have the luxury of letting life just happen around you if you want to actually be living and making things happen for yourself--you have to be actively pursuing it. This is the checklist with empty boxes portion of your life where it's time to start working on the checks. I have the rest of my life to seek comfort. So I’ll take the uncertainty, the chaos, the risk that encompasses life in my twenties.
I’ll live uncomfortably. At least for now.
