Honestly, what 20 year old actually has their life together? I know I sure don't. I spend most days transitioning between 'yeah I totally know what I am doing with my life', back to 'I don't even know what day it is'. I think it is almost humorous how not together my life is. Especially when you consider how together my life should be at this point. I mean I am in grad school, and I have a real "adult" job, and yet I still spend 90% of my time thinking that I have no idea what I am doing. Rest assured, however, I am not the only one. In fact I have spoken to so many of my friends about this exact topic that I am pretty having it together in your 20's actually translates into: "I have no idea what I am doing".
I honestly think that the most confusing part of being 20 is this idea that you have to know exactly what you want to do for the rest of your life. You have to have a dream job that is still attainable according to your chosen degree and be able to constantly have clear-cut an answer to the question "so where do you see yourself in 5, 10, 20 years?". When the sad truth is, you don't even know what you see yourself doing for lunch the next day. Part of this is the standards that are being set for us by society. When you are 20 you're expected to go to school, have a job, have a social life, and still be able to find the time to do the extracurriculars. All so that you will be able to produce a good enough resume to get a job or to look good enough on grad school applications to get into the program of your choosing post graduation. Yet actually doing all of this leaves very little time to set up a long term plan.swift yet ever so disconcerting transition from 'wow I'm really smart' to 'did that really just come out of my mouth?'. Does it seem like a good thing at the time? Absolutely not. But questioning whether or not you're good enough, leads to wanting to be good enough, which leads to pushing yourself to be the best person you can be. No, you will likely not get every position you've ever wanted. But it does give you the room to keep trying.
That being said, I want to emphasize that it is also okay to change your mind, and adapt to new ideas. It is okay to take a break for a little while, or take time to concentrate on something other than school, or moving up on your career path. It is also okay to decide that the job you were pursing or the degree you chose isn't something you want. After all, it is something you are going to be doing for the rest of your life. So if it isn't what you truly enjoy, then take the time to find out who you are and what you do enjoy doing. There is nothing wrong change.
Rest assured you are not the only 20 year old that has no idea what they are doing. In fact, at this point in time, I think that having it all together, has little to do with actually having yourself together. So take the time to figure out what you want; to relax and figure our who you are. Because in the end, that is what really matters.
