5 Reasons It's Okay to Feel Lost in Your Twenties

Your twenties are a time of self-discovery. Education, jobs and relationships are changing in your life. One day might be drastically different than the next, and it can be hard to find your vision amongst all of the chaos. Whether or not you’ve hit a full-blown quarter-life crisis, you probably have felt lost at some point. But you know what? That’s completely, 100% okay.

Here are five reasons why it’s okay to feel lost in your twenties:

REASON 1 | We all go through life at different speeds. Perhaps your best friend has just landed their dream job, a fiancé and bought a house, but all you have is half of a college diploma. It can be hard to feel like you’re on the right path when everyone around you seems to be achieving success. Your twenties are when you start creating your own future, but the reality is, not everyone moves at the same rate. Feeling left behind is nothing to beat yourself up about. Focus on you, your path, and forget about comparing yourself to others. Your life depends on the choices you make, and only YOU have control over that.

REASON 2 | You are young. You might feel expected to have everything sorted out. You may feel old because you’ve been thrown into adult-hood, paying your bills and making your way. But you can’t forget the fact that you’re still physically young. There is so much life still ahead of you, and despite how old you may feel, you probably don’t know as much as you think you do. With young age comes opportunity – you have so many more opportunities at your fingertips than you realize. And on top of it, you have many more years to experience these opportunities.

REASON 3 | You have the freedom to take chances. In general, people are getting married and having children later in life. If you don’t have these kinds of commitments in your life right now, you have more freedom to explore and make mistakes. You may have some financial obligations, but they are definitely not the same as supporting a family. Remember that if you want to take a leap of faith, now might be the best time. Take that dream internship. Spend 3 months travelling the world. Start that business you’ve been thinking about for years. If it doesn’t work out, or if you don’t get rich doing it, the financial implications have less impact. What matters is the experience and what you learned.

REASON 4 | You are always learning. No matter what, you are learning. You might not feel like it, but every day you are finding out more about yourself and the world around you. What makes you tick? What are you interested in? What are your passions? Take up a hobby, sign up for a class, or use your skills to start something of your own. Getting involved will help you learn what you like and who you are. It can help you find yourself when you’re lost.

REASON 5 | You create your own expectations. Ultimately it comes down to you. Putting pressure on yourself to live up to a “big dream” will only leave you disappointed if you’re unable to achieve it. You can set yourself goals, but remove all unrealistic expectations for now. Too many things are changing in your life and there is so much self-discovery to go around. You can’t expect to manage all that and be on top of the world at the same time. Take a step back and just let yourself be.