The twenties screw us over

(I HIGHLY RECOMMEND listening to the above while reading below for the full effect. highly highly highly recommend. So please listen and read along, thanks!!)

I am twenty-one years old. Eventually I will be twenty-two.
And because some of my friends are twenty-two already, it feels great to be so young.

There are some people like Aditi who probably even feel happy that they're a year older - at least their maturity matches their age more than it did before. And then there are those who go through a mid-life crisis like most nineteen-year-olds do - I DO NOT WANT TO STOP BEING A TEENAGER. BEING TWENTY-SOMETHING JUST SOUNDS SO OLD ARRGGHH. And at first glance, you might not understand why a body-changing, core beliefs challenging, and uncertainty inducing dynamic is one that a person would miss. It generates rebels and copy-cats, and is a generation of people trying to understand who they are. Dealing with the criticism and at times even ridicule of other teenagers is universal and (obviously) doesn't help.

But when you turn twenty, armed with battle scars from the past seven years of life, teenage seems like a piece of cake. The twenties are where the real problem lies.

You're too young to be an actual adult in anyone's eyes and too old to be a kid. It's the time where you forget about finding yourself and focus on finding a job or university with whom you'll be married to for the next seven years. Somewhere in the middle, you might also try to find a second wife/husband whom you will get married to forever. And now if you haven't figured yourself out, or you don't have a predilection towards something, or a developed thinking enough to take your own decisions, the twenties get pretty messy.

I say that the twenties screw us over because it's these ten years of our lives where we probably make every irrevocable decision. (I mean you can change it, but it's more convenient if you like your job and your partner or whatever you do for a living.) There's pressure from everywhere to get it right. We have people counting on us, money being invested in us, and our own life unrolling from the camera reel in our eyes with every decision we make. There's no way we can pick the other combination and see how our life would have turned out like. (At the same time, I do not think any combination would consist of purely happy experiences. But I like to think that every experience is a positive one. In fact, experiences with negative endings end up being the ones you grow from the most.)

We feel that our decisions are irrevocable.
We feel like we have to get everything right.
We feel like one wrong step and it is the end of the world.

but
(of course there's a but)

The beauty of the twenties is that you have the liberty to experience. You have the liberty to keep trying, failing, and wholly understand what works for you. You can change paths, you can go wrong, you can 'fall'. And then you can pick yourself up, think what is next, and begin smashing your goals again. You will feel the energy of people around you slowly seep into your body. (So choose the people you surround yourself with carefully.) Motivation, power, and passion - look for it, pass it on, and let it come back to you in a full circle.

I urge you to do exactly what you want, unapologetically. I ask you to take responsibility for what you are doing and what you are feeling. Know that every single day is a choice. And make the choice you want at every minute or hour of the day.

Don't know what you want? Don't know what you are doing?

That brings me to the second thing I think our twenties (and I could go so far to say even our lives) are about. If we're going to let ourselves go wild and experience everything we want to, here is the leash that will keep us on track: our aim needs to be getting clarity.

I don't remember where I read this, but there's a saying that talks about having an idea of a destination you want to reach. This is important, because if we do not, wherever we reach becomes the destination. Set-backs will only pave way for new opportunities or stop us from reaching a place we are probably not ready for yet. So what is important is to keep checking how our current actions help us reach our destination, or at least better understand what our destination is! Get clarity on this, and automatically you will know where you are headed and how to get there. The more places to go, the merrier ^_^

Honestly guys, just trust the timing of your life. You have to keep going. Sleep for a decent amount of time. Switch up your routine to include things that refresh you like going for a walk, or playing an instrument. Just have faith in yourself and be confident about your abilities.

Because I guess the twenties do not screw us over. That is something we do to ourselves.

Do you complain or do you conquer?
Do you woe or grow?
Do you over things stress over or do you become the girl on fire?

You decide.

Kanksha
This girl is on fireee.