So today’s Guest Bloggy post on the “Quarter life” which really, isn’t seeming so bad now that I’m only a mere 9 days out. I don’t know what I was so afraid of but my fabulous guest posters over the past few weeks? Have been fabulous at alleviating my fears. So today, Laurel from Sass Attack will be doing her FIRST! GUEST POST! EVER! Enjoy!
At first glance, 25 was the uneventful year sandwiched in between two far more exciting periods in my 20s.
At 24, I got my current job–a huge promotion and a position which I wasn’t totally qualified for. I met my boyfriend, AS, three months before I turned 24, so that year was also the beginning of our relationship. We were giddy in love.
At 26, I applied and was accepted to graduate school, moving on from the great job where I’d ended up succeeding. AS and I are on the verge of a long-distance relationship while simultaneously so ready to move to the next step–cohabitation, engagement, something.
At 25, though, I was getting the hang of my job, learning more and more every day. I made the decision to apply to grad school and started thinking through my how I would position my application. I was growing in my relationship with AS. We had our first serious conversations about the future, about where we would ideally live and raise children, about the differences between our families and how we were raised. 25 was certainly less dramatic than the year before or the year after, it was a year of great growth, new confidence and much happiness.
Whether 25 (or 26, or 27, or 30) is eventful or boring, though, I think my newly minted late 20s are wonderful. Sure, sometimes I still feel as lost and confused as I did at 16. Sure, with the impending weight of grad school debt, I’m not as financially stable as I’d like to be. But, you know what? I really am a grown up. I like that.
I like that AS and I could go off to Vegas next weekend and get married and no one would question it. (Sure, feelings might be hurt, family might feel left out, but no one would deny that we’re mature and old enough to be married.)
I like that I could accidentally get pregnant tomorrow and, though it would be rather inconvenient and unbelievably scary, I could raise a child. I am grown up enough to be a mother.
I like that I don’t stand for crappy friends any more, and downgrade them to friendly acquaintance with a minimum of drama.
I like that I know who I am. I like that I don’t apologize for getting up at a ridiculous hour of the morning to run or for geeking out over LOST gossip or a great new novel.
I like that I actually like wine and beer and vodka sodas and rarely find myself choking down a slightly warm, slightly flat Natural Ice in a red keg cup.
I like that I am fitter than I have ever been and that I pay attention to my health and not just my appearance.
I like that I still have “room to improve” – I like trusting that some day I won’t let work problems get to me; that my running can still get faster; that some day I’ll look back on this period of my life and think, “Well, I was okay back then, but I’m a helluva lot smarter now.”
After reading this? I realized she’s right. I am grown up. I pay my bills (for the most part on time). I have a great relationship. A great job that’s giving me more and more responsibility each day. I have my life in my hands and I have a lot of control over it and the inconveniences that would have overturned my life three years ago? Well, I could handle them now. They’d still be inconveniences but I know that I’m in a better place than I was back then.
Twenty five is only scary if you make it. And I? Need to take twenty five by the balls and say I WILL NOT BE YOUR BITCH QUARTER LIFE! I WILL NOT!!!
So everyone? Go tell Laurel how freaking awesome she is.
