How Your 20's Shape Your Journey In Life

“Enjoy your Twenties!”  Many of us have heard this exact sentiment from our elders but what exactly does that mean?  Of course you should enjoy your twenties, but you can and should enjoy each and every stage of your life. Living a life in which you enjoy each unfolding chapter requires living a life of intention. Your twenties is a chapter in which you have more free time, and while you want to use this to make memories you also want to create a firm foundation so that you can enjoy each stage as it comes.  

Many people choose to focus on one thing at a time. They may create a solid network of friends, develop a satisfying career or create a firm financial foundation. Focusing on one thing will certainly make your life better than if you didn’t have a focus, however if you can develop on all three, you can take control of your future and lead a value driven life you can enjoy as it unfolds.

Take for instance, the people who focus on their network, being social and making memories with friends. As they finish their college years, they spend their time going out with friends and enjoying the parties and nightlife college offers. They have an internship over the summer in the field they are looking for but they aren’t too worried about grades because they are there to enjoy and have fun. They make plenty of friends and have a great social network which helps them get their first job. However, their lack of focus on the financial means that their salary may not be quite enough to support their social lifestyle. On social media it looks like they are living the dream; taking vacations with a good job and being social during the week. What you don’t see is the fact that they are slowly sinking into credit card debt that they just can’t seem to pay off and at some point they will have to change their lifestyle drastically to cover the debt they amassed during this time. When the culture at their work changes and they dislike going to work, they have limited options because they don’t have the financial foundation to try something new. They begin to feel trapped in a job and their late thirties seem to be about paying debt and making it through the day.

You may also know someone who is focused on achievement. They have big dreams, they want a luxurious life with a great job and all the trappings that go with it. They are going to have to work to get these things and they know it. They put in 80 hour weeks as an intern and work as a consultant during the last year of school. They might find themselves at an occasional social gathering but work takes precedence and everyone knows it.  On Linkedin they look great! However, they spend 60-80 hours a week at the office for the first 4 years and have earned regular bonuses and promotions. They are able to afford the luxury items they want and feel they have made it. Unfortunately, they have few friends outside the office and often go home alone. They go out on some dates but start to feel like everyone is looking at their money, not at them, they struggle to make meaningful connections. In their thirties they have all the things that show they have achieved the “good life” but even though their paycheck is great, they are still working 70 hours per week and while they are able to save some money, it is going to take a long time to build up the financial foundation to support such the lavish lifestyle they enjoy if they were not actively working. They don’t imagine retiring because work has become their identity and their friends. 

A person focusing on a financial foundation may focus on their savings rate over everything else. They long for stability and sacrifice social life and luxuries to make sure his bank account has savings.  They work during college, and make sure they don’t have student loans to tie them down.  They focus on a career path that will ensure steady income.  Instead of weekends out with friends, they work on the weekends and hang out with one or two good friends.  They live modestly, share a room and are able to save 50% of their income.  Their bank account is growing but they feel like they are missing out on life as they watch their friends’ socials. Unfortunately, their income remains about the same through their working career and while their safety net grows but as their peers’ income grows they find themselves wishing for their own apartment and a new car.  These small luxuries come at the cost of their savings and they end up working longer than they hoped.

Each of these people are achieving something, however, if they had been a bit more intentional and balanced in their approach, they may have been able to enjoy each chapter a bit more.  If the social person had focused a bit more on their savings rate and suggested lower cost outings, they might find that their later years are more stable without the debt that comes from living outside your means. If the achievement driven person had spent a bit more time cultivating friends outside of work and focusing their spending on what they truly valued they may find they have more of the human connection they are craving.  If the saving driven individual had also invested in their social life and career trajectory they could have found a way to network and start their own business.

There is no perfect path, but if you take a step back and see how you can balance your life a little better, you can create a life where you not only enjoy your twenties, but also your thirties, forties, fifties and beyond. Balancing your approach and paying attention to all aspects of it can lead to a more fulfilling life.  

You only get one life and you won’t know where the destination is until you get there so take 30 minutes to ask yourself your values and allow yourself to lead a value driven life where you get to choose your journey.