Stop Rushing Into Everything — Let Yourself Grow First

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When I was 18, I couldn’t wait to grow up and go to college. I thought high school was beyond me. When I was 22, I couldn’t wait to graduate college and get a job. When I started my first job, I couldn’t wait to move on to something better.

Isn’t that the truth of life though? Constantly moving. We are. Always looking for the next best thing. We don’t like to be stagnant. Whether its professionally, personally, or in our relationships. There is a constant feeling of never being good enough.

We get into relationships and compare it to those around us. We look towards all the “perfect couples” on social media. The ones with that perfect engagement, that perfect wedding, and seemingly perfect life. But lets get real. Nobody is perfect. And we are all fooling ourselves by thinking that.

I have a job I love. I live in an amazing city, and have a great apartment. But somehow, that’s still not enough. I’m still searching for “the one,” just as many of us are. But sometimes I wonder, have I found the one, and turned him down? In reality, no. But our instant gratification culture sometimes has me second guessing everything.

When I was 18, I couldn’t wait to be an adult, with a real job. And now I look back on my carefree days, and wonder what I was thinking. We often don’t realize how good things are until later. What they say is right, hindsight is 20/20. I’m a little wiser now then I was at 18, but sometimes I think I had it right back then.

At 18 I lived in the moment. I loved my life, and while I was eager to grow up, I still had a sense of innocence. I think I can learn from my 18 year old self. Why are we in such a rush?

There is no timeline to your life. You may think you should be at a certain place, but truth is, we rarely follow these plans. And there is no reason to! Get married at 22, get married at 32, who cares. If you marry the right person, it won’t matter. I think we get so caught up in the next best thing, and being on “track” that we often lose our footing and actually get off track.

Slow down, breathe. You are where you need to be. You are growing. You are learning. Stop rushing everything. Make your 18 year old self proud.