By Selena Jones

So, you’ve graduated. Congratulations! You’re quite possibly in your twenties – now what? You may already be noticing some changes. While half your friends are still getting drunk every night, you’re wondering if you can even hack one night of birthday drinks and cursing those hangovers. Midweek cocktails are firmly out of the question for you! Or perhaps your friends are having babies and the appropriate response is no longer to panic and ask “what on earth are you going to do?!” – they’re actually happy about it, and you are, too.

Your twenties are a definitive decade.

Your twenties are arguably a definitive decade. You’re still young enough to experiment, make mistakes, and yet you are starting to get some real responsibilities, too. Now, nobody’s saying you have to settle down, make compromises, whatever. But you’re learning that sometimes you have the choice to, and that’s okay. It’s an exciting time, one where you have the world at your feet, your career is dawning and you’re most likely mixing with a different set of people, perhaps in a new place. Suddenly, getting a house, starting a family and all of these ‘grown up’ things don’t seem so ‘forever never’ – they’re suddenly potentially your daily reality. Of course some things will be hard to adjust to, others will be easier. Everyone is different, but that’s part of living.

So, what do these different stages in your life actually mean? I’ve touched on families – you’re possibly thinking about starting your own. With today’s mounting debts and rising costs pricing a lot of people out of any huge milestones, it’s often advisable for a lot of people in this situation to put their career first. But you’re also probably learning that sometimes, things just happen the way they happen, and that’s fine as well.

What about travel? So many Americans don’t even own a passport, and yet there are literally hundreds of countries out there, waiting to be explored. Travel no longer has to mean road tripping down to Miami for WOOHOO Spring Break, because sadly, not many of us in a 9-5 are afforded that privilege anymore! But there are plenty of other options, from taking time out to commit to backpack, or learning a new language or culture by actually working abroad. The lucky few, perhaps those already settled in a two income household, may even consider investing in a holiday home on a Spanish island somewhere, like in Tenerife, which is cheaper than you’d think, or perhaps a luxury property in Dubai! The world is your oyster.

Of course, money doesn’t totally make the world go round. There are loads of things you’ll likely change in your twenties – some people calm down more, while others decide to throw caution into the wind! No matter who you are, what you’re doing or how old – or young – you feel, different areas alter in your mind over the years. So, even though you’re a grown up, you never have to stop chasing your dreams – you just have to adapt them!

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