Thoughts on 20s
I saw an article containing advice for people in their 20s last week and found it interesting. What things, I wondered, really worked and what things really backfired for me during my 20s?
One certainty of my age now is that I don't feel qualified to give anyone "advice." I feel as though I won the war of the 20s but lost so many battles in the process it's become a tangled mess. I can only reflect upon the things that make me smile as the things I did right and the things that make me cringe as the areas where I failed.
I spent most of my 20s in hotel rooms, teaching myself about computers and computer science. This makes me smile at myself.
I had quite a few pointless relationships in my 20s, and this makes me cringe - especially when I force myself to visit some episodes I prefer never to think about.
I fell in love with literary fiction in my 20s, and this makes me smile.
I got to see a lot of the US in my 20s. I smile at that.
I wasted a lot of the time I did travel holed up in a hotel room, watching television. I wish I'd discovered photography sooner and find this annoying.
I was married at 29, a major milestone - I'll always be happy about how lucky I was.
I tried and failed to return to school in my 20s. It's a painful smile; I got back up off the ground and am trying again.
I could keep going (and probably will) but I think every person in their 20s is in the process of finding themselves and learning to stand alone, without direction. Although college is the first stint of being one's own boss, it's not until you're finished that you really act independently without a strong hand of direction.
Now I turn the question to my friends, most of whom are in my boat and able to look back on the decade picking apart the things that make you happy and the things that disappoint you. What do you think worked and failed in your 20s?
12:00:59 AM 
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