The Southern Thing: Cheers to Being a Twenty-Something

As I sat at my desk this morning and realized it's already October, I thought to myself "Where the heck did the time go?" It seems as though it was just a few short months ago that I was celebrating the new year of 2013, and somehow, the year is just about on its way out. And then I started thinking even more.

It's been six years since I packed up my room at home, signed my first lease, and arrived at good ole LSU as a first year college freshman. Fast forward the shortest, but the absolute best four years of my life and you have graduation. A year later, I packed up my car with my most important belongings that could fit, said my goodbyes, and traveled 1,400 miles across the country into a state where I knew absolutely nobody. And here I am now, sitting at this desk as a second year graduate student, way too far from home, with graduation just around the corner. Where did the time go?

Not only did time fly by these past years, but so did my twenty-somethings. If my undergrad college self would see me now, I'm sure it would be ashamed. Am I more responsible now? Sure. But with responsibility comes sacrifice, which means a little less fun.

I feel as though the idea of growing up, getting an education and a real job sometimes takes over everyone, including myself. But here's the thing, we are still young. What is the rush? Ever since I stepped foot onto the LSU campus, my goal has been to get my degree and get a job. By the time I was a junior, the partying wasn't as fun as it was freshman year and I started to anticipate graduation. After graduation, I couldn't wait to get to grad school so I could finally get that Master's that would one day bring me to a really good job with real money. Now that I am 8 months out from graduation and everything I have worked towards my entire life will finally be coming to an end, I can only think of two words to best describe this situation. HOLY SH*T.

Why did I wish to rush this process all of these years? Why couldn't my 16 year old self wait to get out of high school? How come my 21 year old self couldn't wait to graduate college? Now that I am 24 and my twenty-somethings are nearly half way over, I would do anything to be my 21 year old self again. The one that didn't think twice about showing up to the neighbor's house party for some beer pong the night before a final exam, or the one that thought going out to the bar the night before a 7am class was a great idea. For the record, it was, if you don't mind sitting in class a little tipsy still ;) Now my 24 year old self thinks twice before even making the decision to go to the local bar for 6/$1.00 wings and beer night because that would mean I may not be able to be in bed by 10:30. WHAT!?

But back to the whole twenty-something thing. Like I said, my college self would be ashamed. I think the situation I'm going through now is more of a mind trick than anything. Age is just a number. I told myself "this is how you need to behave at this stage in your life." I got so caught up in wanting to be successful (not that that's a bad thing) that I've been forgetting to just live, have fun, and be young while I can. A lot of people think 24 is the age to get married, buy a house, and have kids. To each their own. I think it's still perfectly acceptable to live life to the fullest and make a few bad decisions that would make your freshman self proud. It's ok to have a real job, be responsible, and start acting like an adult, but remember, you're still a twenty-something, and you're still young. Have fun now! You'll probably regret not doing so when you're in your 40s.