Transition

I’ve begun to realise that twenty-two is a very important transient time in my life.

Through my life and my travels I have made a great deal of friends, many of whom are in the monumental stages of graduating from University, settling down, starting a career and/or starting a family. I am not yet doing any of these things – and that’s okay. I don’t feel the need to fit my life to someone else’s timeline.
Yet, I will be joining my friends in these adult endeavours soon enough.

But, for now, I am transitioning. I’m transitioning from youth to adulthood, from inexperienced to mature, from trepidation to bravery. Studying in Sydney is a transition between my undergraduate years in America and a postgraduate degree who knows where. Graduating is a transition from my studies to my career. Travelling is a transition from where I have been to where I am going, from what I know to what I am yet to discover. Twenty-two is a transition from who I was to who I will be. Each of these stages is a stepping-stone in life, not an end goal but a progression from one point to the next. And I’m enjoying every stage of the journey so far.

It is important to remember not to compare ourselves to those around us. Life cannot be measured in someone else's accomplishments. It is easy to look around you and be afraid that you have not accomplished as much as your neighbour, or that you are more successful than your peer. This is not the case. You have accomplished, you are successful. And so are others. We are all successful in our own way, all achieve our own standards of happiness. If you are not happy yet, keeping trying. But keep trying for your own sake, not to feel as though you are competing with someone else.
As long as you believe something, it can become reality. As long as you keep trying you can keep succeeding.

Living life in constant motion makes it easy to feel as though I am running from the inevitable; from the expectations of a ‘real job’, ‘real home’, ‘real life’. Yet I keep running. I’m playing hopscotch through my life until I find something, someone, or somewhere that makes the idea of permanence finally more comforting than terrifying. I’ve always believed that a healthy dose of fear keeps us aware and alive.

I am in constant motion… but I am still young, I’m not tired yet.