Dear my fellow millennials,

So I don’t know about you, but I remember my teenage days…

Specifically, I remember talking to adults, (well, adultier adults) about how great it is. You’d always see their faces look up, smiling, as if they’re picturing those fond memories right before their eyes. Snapping back out of it, they turn to you and say, “Please enjoy your teenage days, they’ll be gone before you know it.” Almost like they’re asking you for a favor.

Or even when we were kids and we were told to sleep in the afternoon. I remember feeling like my mom or cousins were being pushy or even too “hard’ on me. “Its me going to suffer why are they forcing me” of course later at the age of eighteen I go on to sleep at 3pm on my own. Funny right?

“More often than not, I’d look around while walking to class, or when surrounded with my friends/roommates *partying instead of studying*. I’d think to myself, well I am enjoying it! I know how special these times are and I’m not going to take it for granted. And I didn’t, I loved it.” One friend told me.

I wake up every day with this innate passion to better who I am as a person. I try to consume my days with thoughts, activities, and people that enrich who I am. I want to get there be successful and happy like any of you reading this. I want too much for myself I think sometimes.

Oddly enough, this can be a double-edged sword. Sometimes I put so much pressure on doing things “right” and making the most of my life that I can get overwhelmed. To top it all of “ Make money” is the motto of my lifetime. We are so fixed on making it comparing ourselves to those around us and trying to be the exact same.

This week I receive my A-Level results and it dawned on me that what you seems like you have a lifetime ahead of you to get your life sorted, is not at all. The truth is “adulting” in the 21st century is not as easy as it was then. Traditionally, all you are supposed to worry about is getting to school and studying but to make it in today’s world you ought to get out of your way and make a difference early or else it gets harder and harder. You wonder if you’re supposed to start a non-profit, get a degree, develop a wildly profitable entrepreneurial venture, or somehow travel the world and make it look effortless online.

When you think you have it all figured out then you remember that after these teenage years;

It’s really about making the most of your time and becoming who you’re meant to be. You become a juggler — you’re finding yourself, your LIFE PARTNER (nbd), a career, financial stability, eliminating + adding the right people in your life, dodging curveballs from every direction, and is it just me or is someone leaning on the fast forward button!? Seriously, time is FLYING. It’s August, didn’t we just celebrate NYE!? I’m 19. ONE-NINE, I swear I was 16 last month.

There are days when I feel like a boss and nothing can stop me, and others when I’m walking around in circles, stressed and utterly overwhelmed for no good reason. You know those days when you just get SO in your head, and your mind is running a million miles a minute about everything under the sun? That was me yesterday and every-time I drift off in thoughts.

So at the end of the day, I poured myself a hefty glass of water and hopped in bed. I was going through Pinterest looking at different inspirational boards, because that’s just what girls do (I swear we don’t have our weddings planned out on private boards…), and I started to unwind.

Am I doing enough? Am I doing it right? Am I where I should be? Am I enjoying my youth as much as I should be? Am I really going to take advantage of my “twenties” or have I even enjoyed my teenage years? Why don’t I have it all figured out? I know it sounds silly to stress about this stuff, but some days I can’t help but feel so much pressure to have my life together. Especially when everything is moving SO fast. Sometimes I wish I could hit the pause button for a hot sec, take a deep breath and put things back into perspective.

And that’s just what I did.

I opened up my laptop again and starting writing this blog because we could all use this reminder from time to time.

Thanks to my mini breakdown (hormones, y’all…) I came out of it with the realization that the only thing I’m doing wrong is stressing about not doing things right.

Whatever age you may be, please know, you’re not supposed to have it all figured out. Life is meant to be stressful and confusing and surprising and amazing. If you had all the answers and everything was peachy at all times, then life would be pretty damn boring, wouldn’t it?

It’s okay to not know. It’s okay to not have an answer. It’s ok to go with the flow and roll with the punches. It’s OKAY to not have your life figured out.

Yours,

Roberta.