If you’re in your twenties, you will probably relate to
this.
With my 22nd birthday came a variety of thoughts
making me question things I’ve never questioned before. And I’m not referring
to questions of spiritual nature such as wondering if God is real or even
something as simple as if I’m on the right path professionally. Instead, I
began worrying that time is passing too quickly, and although I’m still young, I
might ‘sleep’ through a life-changing opportunity and fail at life if I don’t
have my eyes wide open at all times.
You’re probably familiar with FOMO (the fear of missing out)
and that’s what I suffer from, except in my case it doesn’t refer to parties or
social events in general but it’s more about my career/personal-development/making
a good future for myself.
The good thing is, I know that this is totally normal (especially
in your 20s) and I’m not the only one dealing with this issue. The bad thing
is, I have no idea how to stop worrying about it.
I’ve been very active while I was in college (which wasn’t that
long ago by the way): I worked, I volunteered, I was a part of college societies, I
did a lot of career research, I met professionals in fields I was interested in working in, I attended talks…and then I finished my degree and got a full time
job and took up blogging (which I LOVE) but still feel like I’m not doing
enough and I should already be getting a masters and buying a house! It’s
insane, I know, but I can’t help it and I know that there are so many
people going through the same thing which is why I thought this would be worth addressing
on my blog.
And if
this is something you’re experiencing yourself, you should know that it's officially a THING and it’s backed up by science!
According to a study in the
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, your mental health improves as you get older. Author
of the study, Dilip Jeste of the Center on Healthy Aging at UCSD said it's
all the changes we experience when we're younger that make us worried about our
future/missing out.
He explained: ''There
is constant peer pressure: you're looking at others and always feeling bad that
you're not succeeding like some of them, and you feel like you have lots of
choices but you're not really making use of them.’’
I don’t know about you but that’s exactly how I
feel. The good news is, according to this study,
we gain emotional stability, empathy, self-knowledge and social savviness with
age and well, we stress less.
So keep swimming my friends! Better times are coming
and the best thing we can do is enjoy the journey in the meantime!
- Paula
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