You Will Learn a Lot During Your 20’s -- Embrace It!

Whether you believe it or not, your 20’s are some of the most critical years of your life. Many people will spend this time partying, trying new things, and enjoying themselves. Unfortunately, it’s also a time when most people are trying their best to avoid thinking about the future.
The truth is, what you do in your 20’s -- your mindset, actions, decisions, thoughts, and behavior -- will largely shape the rest of your life. You might not think about it, but these years are essential for three main reasons -- biologically, professionally, and financially.
Biologically, our brain and body are undergoing its final growth spurt before adulthood. Professionally, you will start to focus on your career, knowledge, and expertise. Financially, you will either make wise or poor decisions that will affect your future.
Due to the importance of these years, you are likely to learn some of life’s most relevant and useful lessons to help you find success in your career, relationships, and life in general. Let’s take a look at some of these lessons we’ll learn.
Take Chances While You Still Can
We will have a lot of things working in our favor during our 20’s, but nothing will be more important than time. When we’re young, we don’t think much of it. We act like we have all the time in the world -- and we often do. As we grow older, we tend to fear time more and more.
When most people come out of their 20’s, they look back at a life full of regrets. Opportunities fade away, your luck starts to run out, and your body starts to slow down. Suddenly, those things you always said you’d have time for are now stuck in the rear-view mirror.
While you have the time, don’t be afraid to take chances. Don’t shy away from setting tough goals and high expectations for yourself. Now is the time to do it because you’ll have the time to react and adjust to anything that doesn’t go as planned.
Life Lesson: Take advantage of the time you’re given -- it won’t last.
Friendships Will Come and Go
For most of us, we’ll keep the same group of friends throughout middle school and high school. A majority of your friends will attend your school, and you’ll see them every day. While this is an essential part of our childhood, it also sets unreal expectations for the relationships we maintain in our older years.
We first get a taste of this when we move on to college. This is when our friends start to change, and we begin to meet new people. Those that used to be our close friends will become our distant friends. People you used to see every day, you might not ever see again.
Friends will come and go, relationships will end out of nowhere, and you’ll eventually grow out of your small circles. When you expect these relationships to last your whole life, it will cause anxiety and disappointment throughout life. Not to mention, it’ll take away from your ability to make new friends.
Life Lesson: Don’t cry over spilled milk -- pour another glass.
Sometimes, Failing Is Inevitable
There are two points that’ll be showcased in this lesson -- learning to accept failure and learning that not all of your goals will be accomplished.
First, you have to learn to accept failure. It’s going to happen in life, and for many people, it will happen often. Period. Growing up, we’re taught that failure is the end of the road. As we grow older, we realize that failure is just the beginning. It’s not about how often you fail, but rather how often you get up and continue moving.
Secondly, you have to realize that you’ll set goals for yourself that won’t be accomplished. Sure, some of them will, but there will be plenty that take much longer to attain and some that won’t see any success at all. Again, this isn’t the end of the road. In fact, you’ll learn that most of the goals you set for yourself weren’t what you really wanted.
Life Lesson: Embrace your failures for what they are -- a moment to learn.
We Have More In Common Than We Think
When we’re in middle and high school, we are all pressured into thinking we have to know what our plans are after school. We are made to believe that if we don’t do this, this, and this, then we’ll be viewed as a disappointment. By the time we get out of school, we’re just as clueless as when we entered. Meanwhile, we view social media and see all of our friends happy and doing well.
First off, never trust what social media shows you. Secondly, we actually have way more in common than we think. A very strong majority of us are dealing with the same issues, whether it be financials, relationships, careers, hobbies, finding happiness, our appearance, whatever the case may be. We can put on a fake smile, but we’re all struggling.
Life Lesson: No matter how much the media tries to divide us, we’re all one in the same.


Baby Steps Are Essential
In our 20’s, we’ll start to gain inspiration from some of the people we look up to most. We’ll see how successful they are, the nice things they have, and the way they get treated. We’ll start to yearn for that same treatment and lifestyle, but we often won’t think about what it took to accomplish all of that.
While it might be easy and exciting to set enormous goals for yourself, patience is what will ultimately reign superior when achieving those goals. Anytime you set a goal for yourself, you should break it up into smaller goals and steps. This will not only help you keep your ambitions on track, but it will give you the sense of accomplishment needed to keep pushing forward.
Life Lesson: Stay dedicated, stay hungry, and stay patient -- your time will come.
We’re All Just Wingin’ It
The final life lesson we will learn by the time we enter our 30’s is that most of us are just out here wingin’ it every day. Even some of the most successful people go through life sometimes thinking, “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing right now.”
Many people are afraid to admit that they’re a little lost in life, but it’s something a lot of us share in common. From the moment we’re born, life is one big guessing game. In fact, we receive most of our guidance during our childhood. Once we start to live on our own, it’s a matter of figuring things out for yourself -- and that’s what we’re all doing every day.
When it comes to our 20’s, there’s no debating how pivotal a time it is for our lives. As crucial as it is, we often tend to overthink everything and place more stress or anxiety on ourselves. In reality, we’re all playing the same game, and it’s a matter of who can make the most of their time.
The beauty of it? We all get the same opportunity to make what we want of it. ​