Dear All Twenty-Something Year Olds,
It's okay. Well, actually no, it's not okay but it is okay. Let me try again; It's okay to not be okay. Things are crazy right now. We grew up with technology booming but a yearning for a simple time of Pokémon and Big Comfy Couch. Some of us are trying to scrounge by with practically nothing while others are able to have some help from others. We have student loans, emotional breakdowns, and times where we feel that we are a seven-year-old trapped in a big kid body. It's all kind of a hot mess right now.
This is just your friendly reminder, twenty-somethings, that you're doing the best that you can. This is such a stressful time of adulthood and I promise that you'll truck on through. Isn't that what we do best? We find humor in even the worst of situations. Failed a big test you studied for? You can send a self-deprecating meme to the group chat and have others reply, "yasss same" or "actually me" and actually not feel like total trash. We truly have mastered the comedic art of using, "This is fine" when things clearly are not fine.
But, we twenty-somethings also have a beautiful sense of optimism. We keep going because we know that there is beauty ahead. We can see the differences our peers and ourselves will make and are already making. We have a one of a kind millennial philosophy of working until we physically cannot work anymore. We get the job done because we know that there is so much we want to accomplish during our time here. We value every phase of life that we are in and I think this is because our childhoods were cut short by headlines on the TV of all the horrendous injustices going on in the world. We weren't sheltered. It was right there. It was just a click of a mouse or a channel away.
So, twenty-somethings, you got this even when you don't got it. Whether you are crying on a mound of dirty laundry trying to finish a term paper or sitting quietly in your apartment with everything done and happily relaxing, you're doing this thing called life just fine. For something that doesn't have an instruction manual or any kind of guidance whatsoever, you're doing a pretty a-okay job. Humans are perfectly imperfect. We're full of flaws, procrastination, and occasional "yikes" worthy decisions. But, these things don't discredit our hard work, our dedication, or our love that we bring to all situations.
Twenty-somethings, don't be too hard on yourselves. And thirty-somethings, same goes to you.