20s are the age to explore, not just the world, but yourself. When you go from school to college, it’s a blur of a transition. But from the time you step out from the gates of college, holding your graduation hat high, that’s when you’re introduced to the real world. And in the real world, we’re eager to commit to relationships, jobs, organisations, or anything that makes us feel less lost.
But here’s why you need to commit to yourself and nothing more…
1. You’re still testing the waters
You don’t know what you want or who you want. So you figure out what you want to do by trying everything and then eliminating things you know you hate, until you find something you love. You try dating someone sensitive, a jackass, an outdoorsy person, a geek, because you don’t know.
2. Everything is temporary in your 20s, except yourself.
Jobs end, so do relationships and sometimes even friendship fades, because nothing is permanent in your 20s. You’re going where the wind takes you, you don’t commit to a place because of a job or a relationship.
3. It’s easy to be misled into complacency.
Sometimes it’s easy to become complacent. You might not love your job, but you still do it, because you know you don’t hate it. You still date the same person you’ve been dating, even though he’s not right for you, because you’ve been dating him for so long. Committing at a time like this, will only lead to regret.
4. This is the time to experiment.
You have your whole life to do what your calling is, to take care of people, to be responsible for others. But you have only your 20s to try everything. To travel like it’s no one’s business, to eat everything when you can digest it, to meet questionable people and learn about hippie culture. To experience life itself.
5. You’re constantly learning and changing.
Do you think you were the same person at 20 then you were at 23? I can honestly say no. My priorities changed, my perspective changed, the way I talk to people changed and the way I love changed.
6. You can think about just yourself and it’s okay.
You don’t have the responsibility of a spouse, your family or anyone upon you. You can spend all your money on yourself, spend all your time doing what you love. This is when you get to pamper yourself and make decisions which you’d have to think about a million times when you’re older.
7. Make mistakes.
Make as many mistakes as you can. Do an English major, even though everyone says otherwise, drink to test your capacity and make your decisions, based on your happiness, not your future. Because that’s how you’ll learn, through your own mistakes. So don’t commit to anything, because you might end up hurting a whole lot of people, while you do this.
8. Mould yourself.
You remember all the times you blamed someone for being as rigid as your grandmother? Yeah, that comes with age. So use your 20s to expand those views. Don’t believe everything society feeds you about an ideal relationship or an ideal life. Mould yourself, according to your own beliefs.
And while doing all of this, you’re building yourself to be a better person, to be more open and understanding, to be the right kind of ‘you’.Â