What I Think and Feel at 25

Yes, I am stealing this idea from my husband  (Tim's blog) and from F Scott Fitzgerald.

There, now that that's out of the way I will elaborate.

Right now, I'm sitting at my desk at work on my lunch break and I have a lot on my mind and since this is such an evolving chapter in my life I wanted to take some time to reflect. I sit here on the eve of my first big event at my new job and in my new career - Meeting Planning. I am also 2 days from being a quarter of a century old & 3 days from my second anniversary.

Let's start with the obvious thoughts and feelings, "Holy crap! I'm almost 25!" "It's been 2 years already!"

Turning 25 is not a big deal to me. I'm not one of those people that worries about my age so much (mostly because I will always be younger than Tim). I am also not the type of person to raise a big hullabaloo about my birthday because it just isn't that big of a deal to me. So, I'm not really up in arms about my birthday. We will see if I feel the same when I'm turning 30...

However, 25 is a fairly significant number, so I am using it as a sort of chapter title in the story that is my life. I never really created a definite timeline for my life. I know some people say they want to be married by a certain age or have children by a certain age, but I never did (maybe because I never decided that those were necessities in my life). Please do not misinterpret me, now that I have Tim in my life, he and my marriage are both necessities and they are two of my highest priorities. I just didn't grow up believing that marriage and children were guarantees in my life. I was that kid who dreamed about the amazing career she would have and all of the incredible places she would visit and the impact she would have on the world - not personal life I would lead. That said, I never had that moment that I felt like I was reaching the due date on life events (which would be moot anyway since I got married at 23). I did, however have a great deal of anxiety about my career. Those that are close to me know that I've spent most of the last 3 years worried that I was not living up to my own expectations. I always assumed that I would have a dream job in a dream career right out of college. Reality check: that doesn't happen. Ever.

Fast forward to present day: that anxiety is gone. Even though Tim and I just picked up our entire lives and completely started over in a new city and in new jobs. Even though I have my first big conference at work tomorrow, and even though I'm turning a quarter of a century old in 2 days. I feel at peace. I feel like my life is heading in a direction that I am excited about and I will be proud of. And in the meantime, I know I have the perfect traveling companion and an ideal setting for my journey. So, I'm finally ready to just sit back and enjoy the ride.