You wake up 30 minutes late, your hair is a mess and you are still wearing last’s night’s makeup. One look in the mirror has you going, “man, I need to get my life together… like, now.” So after you toss your tangles in a messy, but still well-manicured, bun and you head out with a plan to get everything in order. But after about a week, you realize how hard it actually is. I mean, you have arrived at the second decade of your life so you must have some things figured out, right? If only that were true. Kudos to the people that are 20 years old with a pretty solid ten-year plan, but this one goes out to the others like me, who have enough trouble trying to find a matching pair of socks.
At the age of eighteen, I thought I had it all figured out. I was finally the age of a mature adult and was going to start acting like it! I had my plan of going to a university after my high school graduation, I had a boyfriend who was going to be my one and only SO and I was going to major in Vocal Performance. A girl can dream right? Well, it is two years later and I am still at my State College, I am currently single (and loving it) and I have changed my major twice in two months. I have realized everything I thought I wanted in life has changed, but that is okay because I am only 20. There is still time to work out all of the details.
Everyone says that now is the time to figure out what you want in life, but no one expects it take this long or be this hard to decipher what is going on in your own mind. However, in our late bloomer defense, there is so much we could be doing so why not try everything until we find the thing that makes us the happiest? It is true that it would be easier to start early on a career and the dating scene would be way more bearable if we knew exactly what we were looking for in a life-long companion. But I would much rather change my major a couple of times in college and date people with different personalities, than be miserable in my job for life or hate someone after ten years because I thought I should have it all figured out by now.
Instead of worrying why you haven’t decided on a solid career choice or found the exact matching sock for your other foot, take advantage of the couple years you have of “free time." The more things you try, the more you learn about yourself and knowing your likes and dislikes is a critical factor in figuring out what you want most in life. So go the direction life seems to be leading you at the moment, but do not be discouraged if it does not work out the way you thought. You have plenty of time to figure everything out. After all, you are only 20!
