Do It For The Plot

Change is such a dynamic concept. It often feels unexpected and, at times, isolating—when in reality, it’s one of the few things we all have in common and experience pretty consistently.

Your 20s are often described as “the best years of your life.” And sure, I can see why some people say that, but honestly, this decade can also be so fcking hard. One minute, you’re on campus, cosplaying as an adult with your best friends living next door, and the next, you’re two seconds away from graduation, staring down the barrel of 40+ hour work weeks with no spring or winter breaks in sight. Scary times.

And yet, you can still remember high school like it wasn’t that long ago. At times, it literally felt like just yesterday when I was heading to my senior prom, spazzing out—not from the excitement of the outfits or party, but because my best friend and I got stuck on the middle of Highway 280 with our dates because their car ran out of gas. We had to watch them sprint across the intersection in tuxedos with a Gatorade bottle filled with gas. The fallout that came after that…LOL. Another story for another day.

Then you blink, and suddenly, you’re in the 25+ club. But wait—GLOBAL PANDEMIC. I was in the middle of a torturous low carb diet at the time and the moment I realized the world was actually shutting down I was like screw this let me go get a 10 pc mild LP with cajan ranch cheese fries and a strawberry Fanta- A true Birmingham Girlie born and bred. Does anyone ever stop to think about what life would look like today if we hadn’t hit a massive pause button for almost two full years? Sometimes, it feels like things still haven’t or won’t ever fully return to the pre-COVID world. I mean, getting that same meal today is pretty much at least 20$ when it used to be closer to 12$. TRUE TRAGEDY. Then, before you know it, you’re approaching 30. Some people are getting married and having babies. Some are going back to school. Others are moving across the country, starting businesses, or just trying to figure it all out.

You live at least three different lives during your 20s, but no one ever warns you about the whiplash that comes with that. Why is that? Are we all just trying to live up to the hype of having “the time of our lives”? Surely, when that phrase was coined, they didn’t expect for us to think every moment would feel amazing. Why do we think we’re supposed to have it all figured out? 

Think about it—when junior and senior year of high school rolls around, everyone’s asking: What college are you going to? What are you going to major in? Are you going to pledge? THE PARTIES! But when junior and senior year of college comes around, no one prepares you for the reality check that follows. No one talks about how hard it is to go from living five minutes away from your best friends to suddenly being in different cities (or states). No one tells you that after four years of earning your degree, you might realize you need another one just to fight for the salary you were expecting and deserve. No one warns you how difficult it can be to find a job that offers decent pay AND benefits AND a good work environment. Or how common post-grad depression is.

Wouldn’t it have been nice to have had a heads-up about all of that? Yeah, sometimes figuring things out on your own is validating and rewarding. It teaches you to trust yourself. But sometimes, you’d benefit way more from just getting the help. I get that people don’t want to rain on the parade, but having just one brave soul acknowledge those struggles would at least put things on our radar. Maybe it would have even made things easier to talk about once the storm hit. Then again, each generation has its own strengths and challenges so maybe no one warned us because things weren’t this way when they were at that stage of life. Who really knows? 

Transitions are a consistent part of life no matter how much people may have warned us or not. So instead, phone a friend, have the hard sometimes awkward conversations, and warn your younger peeps. Most of us can still vividly remember how difficult some of those changes are going to feel.

I’ve already survived the hype and hidden horrors of my 20s but they say the 30s are REALLY what you think and hope the 20s would be. I just joined the 30 club and once you realize that life can change in the blink of an eye, you start to make the most of every moment… Actually, that’s a little bit of what prompted that iconic girl’s trip but I’ll get into that next week. So follow me on this ride. I promise to let you know if they were B.S-ing us again or not. LOL

Remember some of the best stories are still unwritten— so live boldly, embrace the unexpected, and make sure your life story is worth the MF plot!