The Waiting Game

Being in your twenties can often seem like an endless waiting game. Waiting for the right job, for the right relationship, for that Uber ride when you’re leaving the bar a few too many drinks later. We’re all just waiting for our “real” lives to start, but the trouble is, this is part of real life. It’s sort of a catch twenty-two though, or at least it feels that way. We want enjoy what we have now, but we also want to have it all figured out. It’s hard though because we can’t seem to move forward until we get that job or that apartment or whatever it is that we’re waiting for, making the now that much less enticing to us.

For me, being out of school, there’s not much to focus on between temp jobs. I have far too much time on my hands and I’m filled with thoughts of the future, what I want it to look like, what it could look like. People always say to live in the present, and I completely agree that this is the best way to live, but sometimes the present isn’t what we want for ourselves and we can’t help but day dream about a better future. The only thing I know for sure is that all I can do is work towards that future. Although it’s a giant waiting game right now, one day it won’t be and when that day comes I know it will be a direct result of my current efforts.

One of the only comforts I have is knowing that most college graduates have this problem after graduation, because it is just such a competitive job market right now, especially for creative types. I’ve talked to so many people about this and they all say it just takes time and eventually it will happen. There’s no changing the facts of the waiting game, all you can do is enjoy the good things you do have while waiting for what you really want. It’s not the most fun part about being in your twenties, but not all parts of life can be fun, and that’s okay.

Eventually is one of my least favorite words currently, but unfortunately it is the only thing that gives me hope for the future. Eventually there will be the right job, the right person, the right moment. We just have to believe that it will get better, things always happen in waves, and right now the tide is low. Nothing is ever all bad though, there is good in every day, we just have to find it and hold onto it in the mean time while we continuously play the waiting game.

Embrace The New

I’ve been thinking a lot about how new opportunities walk into our lives and how we react to them. For me, as someone who just stepped into the “real” world, there are so many new things to be discovered. This can be a nerve-racking experience, but it can also be very exciting. There is still so much I have to experience in this life, I’m just getting started. And that’s the thing, I don’t know what to expect because I’ve never been here before, but it’s how I deal with these new changes and opportunities that matter. I want to embrace them with an open mind and an open heart because there’s a chance that one of them could change my life.

Along with new job opportunities presenting themselves, I’ve also met a lot of new people recently. This has been refreshing and also eye opening to the people that walk in and out of our lives at different times. A while back, people told me that the friends you have early on in life will most likely not last. Now, in high school I had a very close-knit group of friends who I thought was always going to be a part of my life, but after graduating college, I realized I don’t talk to most of them anymore. We want to believe that the people we cherish will be with us long term, but the truth is people move on, they grow apart, and their lives can just be on completely different paths. Coming to terms with this realization was hard, it’s never fun losing friends, but I guess at the end of the day, it’s not so much about losing friends as it is finding out who your true friends really are, whether they be old or new.

Having new people in your life is much like starting anything new. You don’t really know what you’re getting into until you’ve been in it for a while. You have all these thoughts on what it could be, what it might be, but you don’t actually know until you really start to get to know them. However, just because we don’t know how something is going to turn out, doesn’t mean we shouldn't give it a chance. We should be excited about the prospects life has brought to us and just go with it because like I said, one opportunity that walks into your life could change it forever. If a door is open to you, why not walk through it, because you never know what’s on the other side until you do.