This is the thing: When you hit 28 or 30, everything begins to
divide. You can see very clearly two kinds of people. On one
side, people who have used their 20s to learn and grow, to find
themselves and their dreams, people who know what works and
what doesn’t, who have pushed through to become real live
adults. Then there’s the other kind, who are hanging onto
college, or high school even, with all their might.
They’ve stayed in jobs they hate, because they’re
too scared to get another one. They’ve stayed with men or
women who are good but not great, because they don’t want
to be lonely. They mean to develop intimate friendships, they
mean to stop drinking like life is one big frat party. But they
don’t do those things, so they live in an extended
adolescence, no closer to adulthood than when they
graduated.
Don’t be like that. Don’t get stuck. Move, travel,
take a class, take a risk. There is a season for wildness and a
season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is
about becoming. Don’t lose yourself at happy hour, but
don’t lose yourself on the corporate ladder either. Stop
every once in a while and go out to coffee or climb in bed with
your journal.
Ask yourself some good questions like: “Am I proud of the
life I’m living? What have I tried this month? Do the
people I’m spending time with give me life, or make me
feel small? Is there any brokenness in my life that’s
keeping me from moving forward?”
Now is your time. Walk closely with people you love, and with
people who believe. Life is a grand adventure. Don’t get
stuck in the past, and don’t try to fast-forward yourself
into a future you haven’t yet earned. Give today all the
love and intensity and courage you can, and keep traveling
honestly along life’s path.