Being a young adult in 2019 is no easy task. Those mid- to late-20s or early 30s where it seems as though all of your childhood friends are either getting engaged, married, or having kids can make us feel like there is something wrong with us. Like we aren’t following the course of life in the way and time that we should be. As though we now have to kick it into high gear and check these items off of life’s bucket list in a certain amount of time. The Clock of Life is ticking.
Have you felt this way at some point? If so, then you know that it is hard to shake this feeling when it seems like every day there is a reminder of the need to rush life. But let me take you back real quick. You remember being 10-years old and having no worries other than not forgetting your take-home quiz at home.. your brother or sister not giving you the remote controller.. or missing your favorite cartoon on Saturday morning? We wanted so badly to grow up without realizing what that truly meant. Now, we’d give anything to strip away today’s stress and relive a day or two of our childhoods. So if anything at all, reminiscing on these moments should be a lesson for us to SLOW DOWN. Those years went by in the blink of an eye, and the next ten will be no different.
Where are we rushing to? We are so focused on what we have not done yet that we are forgetting to be present. To be mindful. To appreciate the very moments that are passing by and enjoy the little things. Those are the types of things that we will tell our grandchildren and great grandchildren later that we regretted: forgetting to enjoy life while we were young, being absorbed in an image or the success of our careers, or experiencing life through our screens and not through our eyes. Don’t let it be you.
As for me, being a professional student in my mid-20s, I am reminded of the clock of life nearly everyday. While my friends are settling into careers, eternal relationships, and experiencing the gift of bringing new life into the world, I am in the library. In a lecture hall. Taking exams. Struggling to actively maintain my sense of balance. Ask me ten years ago what I thought my life would be like by 25, and I would have had it all figured out. And part of me was disappointed that now, ten years later, more is undecided and unpredictable than ever before. I am not a doctor yet, haven’t found my husband, don’t own a home or a cute car that fits my 3 children, and I am certainly not wealthy.
However, I enjoy every single day of my life. I work towards my goals and do so at my pace. I strive to check things off of my bucket list rather than a life list. I applaud my friends for the milestones that they achieve in their lives, and I have come to realize that every person has different milestones and a timing at which they will reach them. And that is the beauty of life.
You are NOT behind. Your path is yours, and it will take you through the beautiful sceneries of life that YOU are supposed to experience and in the time that YOU should experience them in. Don’t get distracted by the car next to you – that is how accidents happen. You will veer off of your course trying to follow that of another. Slow down. Don’t rush through the life you are given.
What is for you will always be for you.. and will be at the right time.
Be patient. Be present. Enjoy life.
Julia Carter 