Whether you're 16, 18, 21, 26, 30+ years old and you're reading this, there's no handbook for life. There's no set age when we're just supposed to magically have life figured out. There's no right or wrong way to live our lives. Whether you're working your ass off in school, doing your absolute best at your job that you obtained, 23 and living at home, even if you're raising a child at an age you didn't expect to be.. just remember that everything happens for a reason. Especially for those of you who haven't even figured out what's out there in the world for you yet, including myself. You may not be where you imagined to be at your current age but then again, is there even a right place to be right now?!

Our entire lives we all have been thinking ahead. Thinking of the future and what the future holds for us. Have we absolutely forgotten about our present? Or even so, our past? It's like no matter what we do, where we are in life.. all we can think about is the future. Where will we live? Who will we marry? What will our career be? When will our lives "begin"? How important are these questions, really?!

Have you ever once thought to yourself, what can I do right in this moment that will help me find, or even understand myself better? For instance, thinking about my family.. I've thought about the future so much that I haven't even began to cherish so many things that have been going on around me, right in this moment. Seeing my nieces every day and night for a couple of months now and sometimes I forget to cherish these little moments I have with them. I never cherished seeing my parents every day (I do now), having movie nights and being the third-wheel on dates with them. Seeing my brother every day before, I never even noticed how healthy he was getting day by day, even how much weight he lost. I hardly ever noticed how much older he’s gotten. Now that I’ve been spending more time with my sister, even more so that I’m older now, it never even occurred to me that she’s always been 8 years older than me. All I could remember clearly before was dropping her off at college, but now we’re so much closer. Time has flown so fast, that I just now realized that I've known my brother-in-law since I was 8. Time passes you by when you're too worried about the future, more specifically your own future and how you imagined it to be whenever you’re older. Instead of taking all your time to imagine where you could be right now or even trying to compare yourself to how someone else, maybe being thankful for what you do have that you might be taking for granted. Understand that although you may have imagined being somewhere completely different or doing something different than you are now, maybe there’s a reason for all of this. Don’t think that you’re not doing your best at trying to figure this thing out.

So why don't we ever cherish the present? I want to say that it's because we're all so selfish that we just expect to wake up every morning. When was the last time you thanked God for another breath, another day of life that he's given you? Being grateful for your past and present is just as important as imagining where exactly you want to be in the future. I’m more than thankful for everything that’s ever happened to me, it has helped molded me into the person that I am today. More importantly I’m more than happy with my present.. for example, the relationship that I have with my family, my boyfriend and my few friends that I have are all so different from each other but they’re all so valuable. I've also come to figure out recently (with the help of some special people), that I need to stop beating myself up about where I am with my life.

Again, I’m here to remind you that there is absolutely no right place to be at any age. Don't be worrying that you're 27 now and you're not married, so what. You haven't found the one yet, so don't go around and settle because you're rushing your future. Who cares that you're 23 and you have a job that you don't plan on making your career? You'll figure out what exactly you want to do for the rest of your life, eventually. Don't let the stress of being a working college student at 19 or 20, get the best of you. Don't let it discourage you from getting that degree.

~ Remember that things come in time. There is no right or wrong way to be living the life that you're living now. Even more so, don't judge the way you're living your life by the way someone else is living theirs. Never be one to compare yourself to anyone else, you are you. There's only one you. Don’t ever forget that.