Letter to Your 20-Something Self: A Mad Lib For Your Enjoyment

By

A few months ago, I came across a web meme started by a Cassie B. on NPR called “A Letter to My 20-Something Self.” After spending the better part of an evening cruising through some letters, I sat down to write my own.

In a daze of motivation, I emailed my friends to join in and write their own twenty-something letters. I figured we’d gather one of these weekends to compare letters and have a few laughs and come to a deeper understanding of each other. But of course, since none of my friends ever actually listen to me, at the end of the day I was left with just my solitary letter.

After thinking I’d written something totally original and outstanding, I did manage to rope one friend into reading it and afterwards he said, “This doesn’t sound like you. It’s too optimistic.”

“But that’s what these letters are supposed to sound like,” I replied. “The point is to calm the fears of your twenty year old self and then impart wisdom and advice.”

“Well yours sounds fake. And generic.”

“Oh.”

My friend was absolutely right. I went back online and researched the most common things covered in the typical “A Letter to My 20-Something Self.” You’ll be dismayed to know, in a huge blow to our collective egos, that most of our twenties were about the same, minus the details. So after compiling all that data, I created “A Letter to My 20-Something Self” Mad Libs for all of us. You can thank me later.