4 Awesome Things About Entering Your Late 20s

At this point in your life you’re most likely established in some manner or other. You probably have a place of your own, an acceptable (you can define this however you want) income, a core group of friends, maybe even a decent relationship.

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Parks & Recreation
Parks & Recreation
Parks & Recreation

Let’s face it, getting older can be pretty crappy, in fact, I wrote an article about how entering your late 20s is awful. But despite everything contained within that brilliant piece I forgot to mention something else – your late 20s are absolutely awesome! It’s a great period in your life I feel often gets overlooked. Everyone always talks about how high school and college can be the best years of your life. However, as you get older, and wiser, you realize that those years paled in comparison to the gloriousness that is your late twenties.

1) Even If You’re Not “There” Yet, You’re Moving Towards It

At this point in your life you’re most likely established in some manner or other. You probably have a place of your own, an acceptable (you can define this however you want) income, a core group of friends, maybe even a decent relationship. You may be like me and still not know where exactly your life may take you, but you’ve probably solidified it into something real and attainable. You’ve probably realized you may not win an Olympic gold medal or an Oscar but you’ve probably got some other great goals in mind. Maybe you’ve finally moved out of that internship and are working at a great company, maybe you finished writing your book and it’s going to get published, maybe your band is opening for an artist people have actually heard of. Life is a journey and you’re still in the early stages, but at least you’ve taken some steps forward.

2) Relationships Get So Much Better

High school and college relationships are ostensibly worthless. People haven’t grown up yet, no one knows what they want, there’s endless drama, there’s cheating, there’s backstabbing, there’s emotional turmoil. Now not all of this goes away as you get older but a lot of it becomes exceedingly less prevalent. When you’re in your late twenties you suddenly no longer feel like putting up with people who aren’t clear about what they want – you don’t have time for that nonsense! And when you’ve found someone worthwhile it truly is an amazing feeling. You wake up and you just know you’ve found someone awesome. Whether they’re your dream girl or prince charming, you just know there’s something great about being with them and there’s no place you’d rather be. You can be completely open and honest with each other and the silly games couples played with each other are a distant memory – like Vanilla Ice’s music career.

3) Your Dreams Can Become Reality

Everyone has different ideas about what life will be like when they grow up and grow older. Maybe your undergrad degree is finally paying off, maybe you went to grad school and have discovered you have other talents you need to explore. Maybe you’ve taken great strides to reach the skies and the stars.  You might not be there yet, but you can certainly be on your way. If you haven’t reached your goals yet then join the club, not everyone gets it right the first time out the gate, a lot of us trip and fall along the way. But we get up, dust ourselves off, and keep on keeping on. We all get the opportunity to give up, each and every one of us has the chance to quit – but if we don’t, if we try, then maybe we too can make our dreams come true.

4) You Can Be True To Yourself

Lastly, you can stop having delusions of what you want and who you are. By this point in your life your personality should have solidified into something more concrete. The boy or girl you were has become the man or woman you should be. Maybe not all the trimmings are there yet, but you are most certainly you. Long gone are the formative years and the endless questions; am I a jock, a comedian, a scientist, a musician, a writer, a loser, a winner, a picker, a grinner, a lover, a sinner, or a joker? If you’re not a club person and your friends or acquaintances want to down vodka-Red Bulls until 4am and you’d rather sit at home binging on Netflix then have at it! You no longer have to pretend to be anything other than who you are and who you were meant to be. And if you’re lucky enough to have found someone to share that with then you should consider yourself very, very lucky. Thought Catalog Logo Mark