1. You are exactly where you are supposed to be.
Classic American culture continues to portray the message that you have to have your entire life planned out from the time you graduate college till you retire and that if things do not go as planned, you did not do it right. Not only is this false but it is extremely anxiety provoking. Take a deep breath, you are exactly where you need to be. There is beauty in the mystery and there is no mystery if we have an itinerary.
2. Rest is needed even when it may be hard.
Productivity can only be possible with resting first. Even the most go-getting of go-getters need to slow down and pause, otherwise they would eventually burnout. Even Jesus who made the entire heavens and earth rested on the seventh day!
3. The only timelines in life are the ones you create.
Deadlines are not necessarily a bad thing, they can teach responsibility, time management and just good studious habits in general. The issue comes when you start to map out the timeline of exactly what you want to do, where you want to be, and with whom. There is a difference between striving toward goals and passions and planning out a hypothetical timeline of when you want to travel, get engaged, pregnant and so on. It is okay to want all of these things and more, just stop giving yourself deadlines to reach them.
4. Having fun in your twenties does not mean you are immature.
Sure, part of being in your twenties is no longer being an adolescent, but you cannot take your life so seriously either. It is sad that one of the hardest questions to answer is “What do you like to do for fun?” Your twenties is a time for having fun and making mistakes no matter how big, after all your frontal lobes are not developed until you reach 25.
5. You are not supposed to have everything figured out.
Even if you were to have a 10-year-plan and have it all figured out, you have to remember that the only thing constant in life is change. It can be hard at times to not plan out the next five years of your life but in reality, you do not even know what the next five minutes are going to look like, it is all just one big hypothesis.
6. It is okay to change your mind.
Rigid thinking can hold you back if you are not careful. You are not weird if you change your mind or have a change of heart, if anything that is a sure sign that your humanness is kicking in. Give yourself some grace.
7. Even the smallest of victories are worth being celebrated.
You may have heard the phrase “Go big or go home” before because after all, it is pervasive in a success-hungry culture like America. Sure, the big wins in life are awesome and deserving of celebration; however, if you are too hung up on them you miss the small victories which make up the majority of your accumulated success. There are days when getting out of bed is the most challenging task on the to-do list, congratulate yourself with a cup of coffee or something else you enjoy.
