As a female in her early 20s, I tend to get a lot of advice from those older than me, I take it to heart and sometimes, not always use it wisely. I am young, driven, and I have my entire life ahead of me. If you are like me you probably don't have your life figured out and you freak out on the regular because life is messy. Your 20s are weird and they are a time for figuring things out and living life to its fullest potential. I want to explore, create, discover, and all the other adjectives. This is a time to be selfish. I hate that word, but it is true. This is a time for you to discover who you are as an individual and find your happiness.
Being in your early 20s means life is one big ball of dysfunction. One day I feel as if I have everything figured out and the next day I am three bottles of wine in and two seasons of Grey's Anatomy deep. Life is just like that sometimes. I am growing into who I am as a person and an individual. Figuring out who you want to be in life is key in your 20s. It doesn't happen overnight, rather it is a process.
Friends and family are there to help along the way (hopefully) and they should support the choices you make. Some of those choices will be the wrong ones and when that happens you will need a shoulder to cry on. There will be good days and bad days, but when those good days happen you must treat yourself and use them to realize what is really important in life.
People may come and go, but there is one person that is always there and that is yourself. As cliche as it sounds, you must learn to love yourself before you can love anyone else. Otherwise, a stable relationship will just not work. Time will tell all and it will hit you. Learning to love oneself is a step by step process that in your 20s is a learning manner. Once you master that, things seem to fall into place.
It is ok to do things for yourself. You don't always have to do things for others. As hard as that is to hear sometimes it is what we need to read in bold print. Doing things for others all the time is definitely rewarding and can make you feel good inside, but you need to take care of yourself. You are important too. You deserve the best of the best.
Being a 20 something may seem like the craziest time of your life, but one thing is for sure, and that is it is the best time of your life. These are the moments you will cherish forever, the memories you will never forget, the times it is ok to be stupid when you are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, when it is ok to take care of yourself first, and finally when you are young and wild and free.
