As the days slowly creep in toward my quarter century, I’m taking some time to dig through my box of old pictures because I vowed to post the most elaborate and dramatic photo collage on Instagram once the clock strikes twelve on September 12th. I stumbled across my high school journal. I flipped through the pages, and skimmed over past love letters, notes and letters to my older self and I found a page titled “All the Things Alize Will Have by 25”. The title alone made me burst out in laughter as I imagined what the sixteen-year-old Alize thought she should have. On the list there were twelve bullet points and it began with having my BBA from Georgetown (I just knew I was going to be a Hoya) and ended with having my own apartment and car. I found that I successfully accomplished 60% of the list. Not bad, I guess.
The world seems to place a heavy weight on the big 2-5; “life begins” as some would have it. One thing is for sure; you get this undeniable urge to get serious about your finances and love life. It’s when people often become focused on health, wealth and stability. The expectation is almost that on the day of your 25th birthday, you are supposed to wake up with a new and improved standard of life, you should be more serious about yourself and ready to conquer the next twenty five years. (Yeah, right.)
With guidance from my mentors and a little bit of common sense, I was able to duck this life plaguing myth. Although turning 25 is a huge deal, it’s really just the beginning.
Patience is more than the ability to wait; it’s how we act while we wait.
One of the biggest things I have learned this year is the importance of being patient in the “meantime” and having the courage to simply keep pushing forward even if you don’t quite know where and what exactly you are pushing towards.
I left a technical recruiting company that I began working with immediately after graduating Howard after a year and 3 months, 22 days and approximately 6 hrs without warning to begin contracting with numerous companies for eight months. I apologize for the exactness of how long I stayed at that company but that only speaks to the excitement I felt the day I freed myself from my misery with the company. When I took the job offer months away from graduation I was so excited to know that I will have a job lined up after graduation and a decent salary. My fear of coming home without anything lined up prevented me from doing as much research as I should have about that company and the company’s culture. I was so concerned with not falling into the category of the “young, educated and unemployed” I settled with the first offer that came my way. I felt that everyone around me expected me to leave college and continue to do “wonderful things” and I didn’t want to disappoint them. So instead of disappointing them, I settled and ended up disappointing myself. Biggest. Mistake. Ever.
Stop resisting your discomfort.
The 23-year-old Alizè was definitely living for everyone else.
