“You either like me or you don’t. It took me twenty-something years to learn how to love myself, I don’t have that kind of time to convince someone else.”

It is officially the fourth week in January and I keep doing double takes at my calendar in disbelief at how quickly this month has flown by. It seems like I usually have a while after the holidays die down before preparing my liver for my birthday, but February is right around the corner… and do you know what else is hiding in that same corner? Twenty-five.

That’s right – next week I will officially be 25 years old. A quarter of a century. I will be old enough to rent a car without extra auto insurance… annnd sadly enough that is the only benefit I could find from my Google search. Sorry.

Although I don’t have a fun list of ‘benefits of turning 25’ for you to read, I will share this entertaining list of Google suggestions that auto filled when I typed in '25 years old’: 

- "25 years old and lost"
- "25 years old and living at home"
- "25 years old and never been kissed"
- "25 years old and never had a job"

Thankfully my current life situation doesn't call for me to further investigate any of the above options, but I truly hope that whoever was searching for these things was not in all of those predicaments simultaneously.

It’s pretty funny thinking back to my teenage self and seeing how different my reality is than what I expected it would be by now. Growing up I think all of us at one point or another (girls at least - don’t lie) planned out a timeline of momentous life events and the ideal age each of those things would occur. Please see below to have a good laugh at my expense:

Expected/Planned Life	Reality
Engaged by 24	I don’t have a boyfriend, nevertheless a fiancé
Married by 25	Unless I have any takers for Vegas in a week, this isn’t happening
Kids by 27	If you count my dog as a child then yes. If not, then consider me 0 for 3 because the pitter-patter of little feet is the last thing on my mind.

According to the above list, I have pretty much failed at every milestone the idiot teenage version of myself set years and years ago. Luckily, I don't look at it that way. I am truly content (and daresay, happy) with where I am at in life and with what I have accomplished in my meager 24 years.

I think the most important thing I’ve learned in my post-college life is that we all need to taper our expectations sometimes. This doesn’t mean to give up on your goals or throw out the “if you dream it, you can do it” mentality. It means we should accept that sometimes it’s best to not receive or achieve the things we think we want in life (queue inspiring music and Garth Brooks’ ‘Unanswered Prayers’).

Looking at my life-timeline chart, I realized all of my plans were based off of some mystery person who may or may not be my future husband and that each of them had an expiration date. The two things my plans had in common turned out to be their biggest flaws.

I understand now that what we want to achieve in life should not be based on any individual but ourselves. More importantly, finding happiness should not have a time-frame nor should we limit ourselves to achieving that happiness by a certain age.

So here’s to 25: Next week I will officially be out of my early twenties, and as scary as that seems right now, I’m ready for what my non-planned future has in store for me.

xo