Throughout life there are always milestones that you dream of achieving. 25 is one of those markers that you judge your life's worth by, plan your hopes and dreams by, and freak out about all of our expectations once you hit 24 and you haven't reached them. When I as 5 I would always say that I would be married with kids by 25. When I was 16 I said that I would just be married by 25 and building a great career. The night before I graduated college, I had sleep over with all of my best friends, and we all talked about where we would be by 25. My goals were to be engaged, to live on my own, to find a career that I loved in a declining economy, and to move out of my comfort zone as much as possible.
When I hit 24 I realized, I'm nowhere near achieving my goals. The quarter life crisis had begun to sink in! Over the course of my 24th year, my carer began to pick up, I moved out, and things began to come into place. Crisis averted, but it was an amazing year of reflection, growth, patience, and strength. I realized that hanging on to childhood dreams can be very detrimental to a better path for your adult life. I viewed the world at 5 through my parents and Disney movies, and I must view the world now knowing the abundance of opportunities and pathways ahead of me. Despite some of the devastating things that I have been through in my path to get to the person I am today, I would not change anything, because I truly believe that every single piece of my story has a part in everything that I am. I've learned to embrace the good, the bad, and the tragic. I'm truly happy to say that I am not the same person at 25 that I was at 5. I am happy that I am not the person I thought I would be at 25. I am most happy that I have learned to move beyond my dreams and enjoy my reality, because I never could have imagined the things that I have done and seen to date.
