When I envisioned my life as a twenty something it consisted of; matching lingerie sets, owning a practical coat and actually wearing it, having a ‘signature scent,’ and obtaining a spice rack with sufficient spices to fill it. I would strut coquettishly from cafe to cafe, exuding a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ and have a successful string of accolades which didn’t feature The Bell Family Monopoly Champion 1999 as the main triumph. However, as the current situation stands, I have acquired none of the above and my measly collection of spices boasts only mixed herbs and an out of date packet of unopened rosemary.
Flashback to your younger days when you were happily living the life of every teenager, filled with angst, hormones and knock off cider. Don’t those seem like happier times, where all you had to worry about was the emergence of spots (imminent) and whether or not Tom Smith from Biology had the hots for you, (he didn’t)? These issues may now seem like a breeze as life cranks it up a notch in the difficulty stakes of your early twenties.
My Grannie taught me that life gets easier the older you get. That may be true for her, aged ninety two, living a life of Werther’s Originals and reruns of Strictly Come Dancing, but now, aged twenty one, life seems tough. A different kind of hard however; one where your issues look a lot more serious and your responsibilities are heftier. You hover in an in between existence where Super Noodles are still the main basis of every meal, yet you know it’s wrong. You’re on the verge, on the edge, on the cusp of becoming a fully fledged adult and functioning member of society, yet you’re still unsure whether bras can go in the dryer or not.
These confusions heighten as people bombard you with pressing issues such as; ‘What are you going to do for after you graduate? Where are you going to live? Have you considered using anti-wrinkle cream, you know prevention before cure?’ As you swear the next person to ask you such unanswerable profanity you WILL finish like a cheesecake.
This said, I believe that life gets easier the more you know who you are and what you want to do. And if, like me you don’t quite have the answer to either of those just yet, then that’s completely fine. In times like this remember the motivational mover and shaker Britney Spears when she famously sung; “I’m not a girl, not yet a woman,”. This smash hit of 2002 was to accompany the release of box office hit, ‘Crossroads,’ very apt to our current situation yet with considerably more crop tops. She subsequently went bonkers and shaved her hair off for no apparent reason; but this aside, these are wise words to ponder when times get tough, so put down the razor and take note.
This is the summer of your youth, you have fruit in your loins or something, so embrace it for what it is before you have to pick out China patterns. Remember that it’s all relational and current issues may not matter in a few years and they certainly won’t matter when it’s time to whip out the Werther’s Originals.
