Don’t waste your twenties | stop doubting yourself | a letter to the girls in their twenties

To the girls in their 20s, this one is for us. I've been where you are and I want to share what I know. The highs, the lows, the doubts, the dreams, the endless tries to fit into a world that often feels so big, too loud, too overwhelming. I remember the days when I believed I had to have it all figured out. When I thought I should know exactly who I was, what I was doing, where I was going. But no one ever told me it was okay to not know. That it was okay to fall and feel lost for a while. To not have every answer. To feel like you're swimming in uncertainty. I chased love like it was the finish line. I gave pieces of my heart to people who couldn't even see the value. Made excuses for their silence, their indifference. Believed their love was all that could complete me. When in reality, I needed to learn to complete myself first. The nights I cried over unreplied texts. The mornings I questioned my worth because of someone else's actions. There were lessons in disguise. The love I was seeking from them was already in me. And I had to just find it before I could ever find the right person to share it with. I know you've been there too. Real love seems like it's just out of reach. And the fear of being alone feels suffocating. But let me tell you something. Loneliness isn't a punishment. It's a space for you to grow. I'm currently still growing in my own loneliness. And I really completely appreciate that I am embarking on this journey. Trust me, you're not incomplete. You're a masterpiece in progress. And the real love will find you when you're whole. Not when you're waiting for someone to come and fix you. And oh, the mistakes. The mistakes we make in our careers, in our choices. Chasing after a perfect path that doesn't even exist. I spent so many years thinking that if I didn't have the job by 25, if I didn't have the promotion, the title, the office, the job, the business, name it, then I had failed. I looked around at others, comparing my messy uncertain journey to their polished Instagram perfect stories. But here's the truth I read someone that told me earlier. Your journey doesn't have to be seen with anyone else's. It's okay to not have it all figured out, to take risks, to shift, to pivot. A career isn't just a job, it's a title. It's the story you build with every challenge you face. And the mistakes you make, they are just the plot twists that make the story worth telling. You are not falling behind. And when it comes to academy or academy, I thought I needed to have straight A's to be successful, to be worthy of any title or recognition. But let me tell you, grades do not define you. Not every test, not every paper, not every class will paint the picture, the full picture of who you are. You're not the sum total of your GPA. You are the sum total of your passion, your perseverance, your heart. And let me tell you, there is no test in the world, no test in the world that can measure your true worth. I know the pressure can be suffocating to be perfect, to have it all, to keep up, but you don't have to. You can't be everything to everyone. People stumble, you doubt, you make mistakes, and that's okay. That's okay. Because you're not supposed to be perfect, you're supposed to be you. I've had my share of days where I questioned every decision, where I felt like I was running in circles, where I was just scared of failure, that I almost didn't try at all. I promise you, that is the worst feeling ever. But all along, I was good enough. I was good enough to make the right decisions because not everyone knows what they are doing here. No one really knows what they are doing in this planet. We're just trying to make ends meet. We're just trying to make it worth the while. We're really here for a short time and I really don't think it makes any sense to pressure yourself into living your life so one-sidedly that all your focus is dependent on your finance, your academy, and forgetting the most important things. Friendships, family, and sometimes some of us are not lucky with the best of them. We don't even have at all to brag of. We don't have friends, we don't have families that love us and that's okay too. We have to learn to be enough for ourselves, especially in our 20s, because this is when we look at the world with a free lens. Now go ahead, take those risks, fall in love with yourself, remove yourself, and know that every mistake, every failure, every time you picked up yourself, you're becoming exactly who you were meant to be. A woman of power, resilience, and an untold beauty and no one can take that away from you. This is your story, you're not just living it, you're writing it. And just know I'm rooting for you. I'm rooting for change. I'm rooting for us.