In Your 20’s And Clueless? Good Job. You’re Doing It Right!

Every now and then, I read an article somewhere, talking about feeling lost at a certain age. The blogs, suggestions, opinions, articles, all remain the same with the same subject, but the target age keeps changing. Some blogs are directed at my fellow twenty-somethings, others at teens and some at the grown-up thirties. Now, the secret is that you are going to feel lost, directionless and just plain tired at every single age that you cross and reach in the future.

When you’re in your thirties, the world expects you to be well settled in the sea of civilisation and competition. Yet, in that age of accomplishment when you’re supposed to have already reached the destination, you end up feeling scrambled and aimless.

And, what about the decade before that? Where you strive to reach that achievement while steering off to different routes to find the one ideal for you? This age, my friend, is your time to lose yourself in the maze completely.

Ideally, it’s acceptable to be clueless of where you’re headed at any given age. Because, we’re humans. And, we’re all different! But, if you’re anywhere in your glorious twenties, it’s a cue to explore all the damn roads, taken or not taken. With a flash note disallowing you to feel ashamed of having no direction in life.

Most people, particularly the society and the family expect us to have a detailed catalogue of all our career decisions and plans ready by the time we reach twenty-three. And, a lot of us do manage to accomplish that while some of us don’t even come close to realising what we want to accomplish. Regardless, the feeling of dissatisfaction and the urge to take an about-turn from those goals and accomplishments take the forefront in this age. Many a time, we also ponder is it okay to jump from one career stream to another? Here’s the catch!

Let’s get real here. Your twenties is all about making memories and worthwhile experiences and not just stacks of money. Well, money-making is an adjunct to these experiences, but that shouldn’t be your priority over exploration. Take up new hobbies, switch jobs, switch careers if you feel you haven’t found that work desk meant for you yet. And, explore.

Explore a lot and try new, different things. Of course, money is important, the need. We all want to be independent and pay for our own expenses. Nobody is stopping you from doing that. But, don’t sacrifice the experiences and discoveries. Take risks but don’t heed to any opinions that want you settled in life already.

You don’t want to enter the thirties with a turban of regrets and dissatisfaction on your head. So, if you haven’t discovered your dream career or landed your dream job yet, sit back and relax for a second. Think of how the most long-lasting and perfect things in life come by in a slow luggage train. Live the struggle and patiently wait for everything to settle into place in a few years. Yes, Years. Because you aren’t going to feel like you finally belong somewhere for a long time now.

So, what if your cousin or your childhood friend has everything figured out at 21? You are not them, nor do they, as simple as that. You don’t have their brain, nor do they have yours. Discover yourself. So, if you’re comparing their success to yours, stop it now.

Stop comparing yourself to your fellow twenty’s and stop feeling ashamed of having no concrete goal yet. But, do not stop struggling and learning, and collecting memories and experiences on the way! If you are scared to follow a non-trending career path, here is the food for thought.