One question that I’m always asking myself is, “am I doing the right thing?” Now that I’m twenty-one years old, there are so many big decisions that I have to make, and at most times I’m unsure of what to do.
The point of this article is not to give you an answer on whether or not you’re making the right decisions for yourself, but instead to share some of my personal struggles and hopefully help you realize that you’re not alone. Something that I think our generation has a hard time understanding is that it’s okay to not always know what to do or always have your life together.
The reason for the failure of believing the previously mentioned claims is social media. People will only post their best days and their highest successes and accomplishments—you don’t see any of their struggles, and realistically, you probably only see about five percent of their lives. Unfortunately, I’m guilty of looking at other people’s lives and comparing myself to them, even though I know that social media isn’t completely real. Due to this, I constantly question whether or not I’m on the right track.
School
Something I have struggled with for so long is knowing whether or notI’m doing enough in regard to my academics. I know that I study hard and do my best to be as involved as I can on campus, but there are still those times where I question if I should be doing all of these things, or if I should be doing more. Honestly, I still don’t know the answer to this question, and I don’t think I will until I completely finish and graduate. . Due to this mystery, my stress and anxiety is constantly high, and the only thing I can really do is just focus on maintaining this stress and not letting it consume me.
Work
My uncertainty that comes out of school work is very high. I have a tendency to be very unsure of what I want to do for work and how much I want to work per week. This has made it hard for me to find a balance or find the right job for my life.. I honestly have no idea what the solution is, and I have no advice on how to tackle it. Stay tuned on if and when I find the answers I’m looking for.
Friends
I do have a little bit more of a concrete answer when it comes to friends. It took me a while to come to this conclusion, but now that I have, I feel much happier. When I was graduating high school, I had so many friends, but as time went on, we started to grow apart, and then before we knew it, we were only left with a small circle of close friends. One important thing that I’ve realized is that friendships aren’t meant to be forced. The people who truly care about you and want to support you through everything absolutely will. I remember that I used to get so upset when my old friends wouldn’t include me in things, but that’s when I realized that what they were doing was something I didn’t like doing. Our goals, morals, and values didn’t always line up with each other; we were completely different people. We just couldn’t find out that we didn’t work together until we grew into the people we were supposed to be.
Fitness
I find that social media has created a false reality around fitness and body image. The amount of apps and other editing softwares used on pictures is excessive, and it creates unrealistic body goals for young kids. Not only that, but people who are considered ‘fitness influencers’ will of course have deeper knowledge on working out and eating right, and they tend to have a better routine because it’s their passion and job. It does get hard to look at celebrities or fitness influencers and not compare yourself to them, but I always remember that I’m focused on something different, social media isn’t real, and we’re all perfect in our own way.
All in all, I still have a lot to learn, and I’m still unsure of so many things in life. I’ve been able to grasp the concept of some things, while others I still haven’t quite figured out.. Life is long and filled with tons of valuable learning experiences for all of us. I hope that by reading this article and seeing what I continue to struggle with at twenty-one years old, while in my last year of my undergraduate degree, you can feel a sense of relief that you’re not alone. We all just need to take everything day by day, and all of the answers will come to us.