The 20s. What a time to be alive. You'll turn 21, hopefully graduate college, and you could get married and have kids all within the same decade. But pump the breaks. Your 20s should be a time for you to be with yourself and figure out you, for no one other than you.
You're figuring out things like how many packets of sugar to put in your iced tea, or if you can go to Target and back without running out of gas, or if you should go out with the girls or stay in because you have bills to pay at the end of the month. No judgement, because these are my thoughts on the daily.
Every day in my sophomore year I would say, "OK, I really need to get my sh*t together." I'd plan out all this stuff and it wasn't completely successful. But that doesn't mean I won't be. I'm literally 20 years old. I have so much time to figure out the minor details of my life. I go to a great school, I have bangin' friends, the most amazing family and a valuable internship. I still don't have it together, but I'm happy with where I'm at.
We are constantly surrounded by people who need to have the best job. And those girls that need to have a boyfriend, be married, and have kids all within the next 12 minutes. For those people that have the perfect job: congrats, kid. For those girls that found love when they came out of the womb: you rock. But for those who have neither? It's OK. Me neither, but we're having a blast, right?
This past year was a huge learning experience for me. I trusted people that didn't deserve it, I loved people I shouldn't have and I even got a D on a PR exam because I went out the night before. Not a smart idea. Zero out of 10 would not recommend (I still got an A in the class though).
One year later and I'm still learning. Learning about myself, my values, what I want and who I hope to be. You can't expect to have your life together in your 20s if you don't even know who you are and what you want.
Your 20s is a time for growing and spur of the moment decisions -- hopefully better decisions than going out the night before an exam. Spend time with your family (dog included), friends, get out and make new ones, get a job that's out of your comfort zone, spend money on experiences, go on adventures and try new foods. No one is telling you that you have to have the perfect job, living in the perfect house with the perfect man by the age of 25. I hope I have a job I love waking up for, living in a crappy apartment in Chicago, drinking beer at a White Sox game (because the Cubs suck) and surrounded by people that make me the happiest.
The Facebook posts about people being engaged and pregnant are only going to appear more rapidly. Don't be discouraged. Don't be sad. Don't think your life sucks. You still have so much time to figure out yourself. Just make sure you're having fun while figuring it out. Enjoy this time, because it will only be a matter of time before you're wishing you were in your 20s again.
