Welcome To The “Early-Mid 20s” Rachel Jimenez
Well it happened – I am officially entrenched in an early-mid 20s lifestyle.
I’ve always thought that getting older would mean getting comfortable with myself, mainly because I have always felt older than my birth certificate would have you believe. But with each birthday I get less and less excited. The most troubling part is that I can no longer use my age for an excuse for my irresponsible decisions.
Early-mid 20s Fact #1: Drinking Is Now Limited Only By Your Wallet
The biggest lifestyle change of my early-mid 20s is that I’m finally legal. Up until recently drinking usually involved a frat house or sneaky underage kids with really care-free older friends. Now I don’t have to sneak booze or worry about not being let into concerts because of my age. AT LAST. I AM FREE. But now, I’ve now come to realize how expensive this drinking game actually is. Yeah, you can go to a liquor store and buy alcohol, and yeah you can go out to bars and hit up those drink specials. But when you’re under legal age you don’t think about the price tag that is attached to those fancy drinks. You don’t realize that all those years of being 21 rarely required you to actually pay for anything. It was the days of sneaking and sobriety. Now, unless you’ve just been paid or are feeling frisky, drinking doesn’t seem so tempting anymore.
Early-mid 20s Fact #2: Cleaning Becomes Fun
Something that also happens in your early-mid 20s is that you move out of your parents’ house. You’re free, slightly independent, and now responsible for an entire plot of land. Suddenly, you being to realize how unenjoyable it is to feel as if you live in a trashcan. You start to realize why your parents hounded you constantly to clean up your mess and to not be such a slob. It now makes sense… living amongst your own mess sucks. Once your on your own and managing your own place, you start to appreciate the value of a clean home, and begin to cherish those moments after a good spring cleaning. Buying cleaning supplies is no longer boring, but an exciting moment that makes you fantasize how clean that spray is going to get your countertop.
Early-mid 20s Fact #3: Social Endeavors Require Far More Planning Than It Used To
Instead of simply trying to work around homework and practice schedules, everyone in their early-mid 20s has a job schedule and other responsibilities. Attempting a get together with your group of friends has become such a to-do because now you and your friends’ life dynamics have changed. Relationships now take a bigger priority in peoples lives, work schedules complicate attempts at spontaneous socializing, and sometimes we’re just too damn tired to do anything.
It’s insane to see how much can truly change as you get older. You can try to listen to what others have to say/warn about the process, but it really doesn’t sink in or make sense until you experience it yourself. I’m excited to see what’s to come but I’m becoming more excited for the time in my life that allows for more sleep. Let’s be real here, being an adult is exhausting.
