maybe chill out in your 20s?

photo: Tina Kunakey

In our twenties, it almost feels like everything is supposed to be happening with immediate effect. It feels very existential, like there’s a restless timeline attached to it.

I was watching an interview of someone in their late twenties talking about advice they would give their younger self, and she said simply to chill out, and not be so hard on herself. I feel like when you graduate university, there are all these pressures and questions that mount regarding your next phase in life. That’s the point when opinions from well-meaning people for the most part, start to build. It’s also when the flurry of unsolicited and quite frankly useful advice on what to do next and getting things ‘right’ in your life really begins. It’s all about the career, the relationships, the responsibilities. It’s the real plunge into adulthood.

I think there are so many expectations when you reach the wonderful decade of your 20s - of course there’s nothing wrong with goals and expectations, but again there’s this thing with the cruel timeline I mentioned in the initial paragraph. These expectations, like any, sometimes sprout impatience, or worse, comparison. There’s obviously much to accomplish with the individual goals that we set for ourselves, but we perhaps also need to remember that everyone’s twenties wouldn’t look exactly the same because everyone’s timeline is different, and every single person is different.

As a 22 year old, I like to think of “the twenties” as the perfect opportunity for people to really discover who they are and who they want to be. I think that in being more understanding and realistic of our individual unique situations, we would effortlessly “chill out” in our 20s, no matter what pressures or external expectations come our way. I believe everything figures itself out with the right dose of patience and faith.

Until the next one

-C