SAMPLE: Personal Opinion

The Many Doors of our Twenties.

One of the most unique and wonderful and painful parts of being a twenty-something in today's world is that most of us have more opportunity than we can comprehend. We can, more than ever before, do or be whoever and whatever we wish. We have options and choices and chances and possibilities - and the reality is, we can't choose them all.

I think that this blend of having opportunity that those before us really never did, alongside the knowledge that we can't truly do it all and have it all, all at once, creates an inherent guilt; a frantic sense of never doing or being enough.

Unexplored avenues are a bittersweet reality of having had options in the first place. 

You can't pursue everything you wish, and honestly, you shouldn't strive to. All you can do is make the decision to pursue what feels right to you, in this moment.

But, in order to really go after your pursuit (balls-to-the-wall, all-in, loud-and-proud), you need to trust yourself. Trust that, if or when this pursuit no longer serves you, you are capable of making that call and doing the work it takes to switch paths.

Don't fill ten cups halfway: focus on the few that really matter to you now, and remove your emotional stakes and energy from what could have been in the rest.

This sounds like a tall order, a painstaking decision: which few cups should I focus on? In actuality, I think you'll find that there are a few cups intrinsically calling to you more than others. Only you will know which those are, but I can assure you that they're there if you're willing to get real with yourself.

And truthfully, what's the alternative? If you spend your life weighing up every decision with equal weight and emotional investment, you'll find that you've lived a very stagnant and painful life focused devastatingly on the maybe-outcome instead of the probable-process.

Deciding what makes you happy, who you are lat the moment (this can change), what brings meaning into your life, how you show up every day; these are not decisions that can deliver a wrong outcome. There is only you, your way, your choice.

Ironically, despite the amount of content and opinions we are exposed to each day, the amount of advice bestowed upon us from generations older, the inspiring quotes on finding ourselves, or our calling, I don't think there's anything to be found at all.

Navigating our twenties today (and I have a hunch, our pending thirties, forties, fifties...) is not about finding ourselves, it's about choosing ourselves. Choosing who you want to be, and doing the work it takes to become that person.

Autonomy is a wonderful privilege that so many generations before us did not experience with such prominence, but with autonomy comes both confidence and responsibility.

As you curate your life, focus on cultivating grace and accountability along the way.

With these, you've got what you need to get where you want to go.