I guess it was inevitable. After leaving university and almost immediately securing steady 9-5 jobs, a few of my friends have already begun to mosey on down those paths sign-posted: ‘settle down’, ‘marriage’ and ‘time to get serious’, and honestly I’m happy for them. Each of them has a well-thought-out life plan and they know exactly what they want both in the short term and the long term.
The only drawback to their new found maturity is that although we were all once on the same page, in the Big Book of Life, (living under the chapter titled: ‘Young, Wild and Free’) these friends of mine have now skipped ahead and overtaken me by a few volumes. And so our lines of thought no longer coincide as frequently as they used to. They look at the next few years of their lives as being the optimum time to find life partners, take on more responsibilties and lay the groundwork for their futures. Whereas when it comes to me, I want to spend my early 20’s exploring and learning, making mistakes and just generally going with the flow and seeing where life takes me.
Let me just stress, however, that neither of our approaches towards this post-adolescence stage of our lives are right or wrong, they’re just different. Personally, I’m happy to retain my somewhat self-indulgent attitude until I know deep down in my bones that I’m ready to focus on the future, settle down and start a family. Because I do ultimately want all of that, marriage and kids…just not necessarily anytime too soon. And so, as of lately, it’s not unusual that I find myself being drawn much more frequently towards the company of my like-minded, immature, impulsive friends who, like me, still have a long way to go before they’ll consider themselves to be ‘real adults’!
So if you feel like it’s not quite time for you to trade in your onesie for a wedding dress, that’s perfectly fine! And don’t pay any attention to those people who tell you that it’s about time that you grew up and took life seriously, because that decision is only yours to make. Only you know what’s best for you and age is nothing but a number. I encourage you to be spontaneous and outlandish, because as the saying goes, you only live once my friend… so sieze the day 😀
Just A Small Town Girl... 
This was great! As another twentysomething with similar feelings on growng up, I really appreciated this 🙂 I’m excited to read more from you!
– Nur Aliza
http://www.fluxforum.com
So glad that you could relate Nur 🙂 thanks for stopping by!
As someone who spent her 20s traveling, trying new things, and making mistakes, I have to say that I don’t regret a thing. Now that I’m in my 30s, I feel that I am ready to settle down … and there’s still lots of time for that. Don’t rush into anything just because you feel pressured or you see what other people are doing … just take your own journey through life. 🙂
That’s good to hear! I completely agree with you, there’s plenty of time to settle down and get serious, but you only get to be young and irresponsible once 😀
Great blog. I’m edging towards my 30th and fortunately my group of friends are late grower-uppers too…that was until a few weeks ago when 2 announced their engagements and 1 is expecting her first baby. Make it all stop!! Seriously not ready to grow up yet!
Oh dear! I know exactly how you feel, it can be so scary to watch your friends growing up without you! But best thing to do is to remain calm and remember that everyone matures in their own time. You’ll join them in official adulthood one day, but if that day is not today then don’t worry about it and just have fun with your fellow immature friends 😀
I agree with you on both counts: different approaches are just different, not right or wrong; decisions are only yours to make.
Absolutely! I wanted to stress that everyone’s different and we’re all entitled to living our lives in whichever ways we please… thanks for stopping by 🙂
Nice one! I’d rather be a child at heart always… But then it’s fun to be an adult
too. So as you said let us seize the day and ease it with a mix of both adulthood and fUnhOOd 🙂
Lol I like that, ‘adulthood and funhood’. And I completely agree with you about remaining young at heart, let’s hope that we can always say that about ourselves! Thanks for commenting 🙂
Absolutely welcome… n a very very Happy Republic Day to you!! 🙂
ha ha this was fun to read 🙂 I have found someone like me 🙂 Once i met a guy for matrimony matter what he said after the meeting ” Gitanjali spend less time with kids 🙂 Start behaving like an adult ” 😛
Lol definitely doesn’t sound like the right guy for you Gitanjali… oh well his loss! I’m glad that you could relate 🙂
🙂 Yes i tool feel that he was definitely not the right person for me…
I’ve spent so many decades making mistakes, I’m finally getting the hang of it.
Haha let’s hope that one day you successfully master the skill of mistake-making! Thanks for stopping by Bryan and thanks for the ping-back 🙂