Saying goodbye to my twenties feels like the ending of an era. I feel as though I’ve spent a lifetime in this tumultuous decade. Like a good ol’ stereotypical Millennial, I spent most of it searching for meaning and trying to figure out my place in this vast world. I’ve learned so many critical life lessons, mourned the loss of important people in my life, and experienced amazing and wonderful things.
As I reflect on the last ten years and where I am now, I can firmly say I’m happy.
This is where I wanted to be ten years ago: confident in my identity and values, established in a career, and at a job I love. If you’ve kept up with my blog (and know me personally), I’ve gone through a lot of heartaches with job searching (and soul-searching) over the last several years. It hasn’t been easy in the slightest, but I can firmly say now all the waiting, the searching, and the anxiety was worth it.
I’ve faced my fears–some by choice, others by happenstance–and learned to overcome them. I’ve gone through hardship and loss and learned to persevere. I’ve been faced with opportunities and took the road less traveled by–“and that has made all the difference.”
Though I’m looking forward to being a more confident and established adult in my thirties, I have a little heaviness in my heart. I’m saying goodbye to a decade of fears, dreams, trials, and passions. And in saying goodbye to my twenties, I have decided to also say goodbye to this blog.
Thank you so, so much to everyone who’s followed this blog since the beginning, to those who’ve joined my journey along the way, and to others who’ve popped in and read a post here and there. I can’t fully express how grateful I am for all of you who’ve taken the time to read my streams of consciousness.
Thanks to this blog, I’ve had such wonderful conversations with my peers, related to an Internet community, and supported those now struggling in their “adult adolescence.” Even now, when someone tells me they read my post or I receive a new “Like,” I feel so much gratitude and giddiness.
If there’s one thing that’s stuck with me throughout the years, it’s this: you don’t know where you’ll be tomorrow, so take advantage of the present. As a friend recently said: “Be where your feet are.”
No matter what anyone says, your twenties are a unique and special time. Take advantage of it, learn all you can, and live life to the fullest.
Long live the twenties.