Amanda's Life

What I’ve Learned in My 27th Year

posted on June 2, 2015 | by Amanda Holstein

In many ways I still feel like I’m 15, but it’s true, today is my 27th birthday. As I enter my late twenties (woah, that’s weird), I realize just how much things change in this after college phase of life. From being an uncertain college grad to now a confident business owner, everything from my career to my self doubt to my relationships has changed. I feel more comfortable with who I am and with what I want to do with my life. So while I may have wanted to stay in college forever, I am so glad to have grown up a bit since then. To celebrate my birthday, I thought I’d take a look back at what I’ve learned in this past year.

Your career is not one path with one end goal

After graduating from college, the thing I struggled with the most was trying to choose my career. I felt like I need to have one goal to go after, like to become an art director or a teacher. This past year, I’ve realized that (at least in my profession) there is no way for me to choose one thing to go after and that be it. I’m going to be many things throughout my career and have different goals depending on my stage in life. Once I was able to accept that, I felt less pressure to have to figure everything out. I could just focus on what I want to experience now and in the near future and see where that takes me.

Your parents opinions are not the end all be all

I didn’t realize just how much my parents opinions influenced me until this past year. When I was trying to decide my next career move, I felt an internal struggle. I got excited and passionate about the idea of taking my blog on full-time, but something inside me told me I should suck it up and get an office job even if I didn’t love. That voice was actually the voice of my parents, or what I thought my parents would say. Once I realized that was not my own voice, I felt such a sense of relief that I could ignore it! Yes, your parents have good advice and are very wise, but in the end, you need to do what feels right for you and your life.

There are no mistakes

I’ve definitely heard this phrase before, but it only really sunk in this past year. Before I’ve made any decision in life, I’ve always worried that I was going to make a mistake. But now that I can look back at some of the choices I’ve made and evaluate their outcomes, I see that there really are no mistakes. Sure, I took a job as a teacher and left after three months. But I would never have known that teaching wasn’t the career for me if I hadn’t given it a try. You can’t guess every outcome and think you’ll always get it right. You have to choose what feels right at the time, and go from there.

Allow Yourself to Be Yourself

I feel stronger and stronger about this everyday. It’s so important to allow yourself to be yourself. Block out the judgements, whether their your own or what you think others are thinking, and learn to love yourself. Be your own biggest cheerleader and don’t be so hard on yourself! You’re doing your best, just like everyone else, and you’ll never reach perfection so you may as well accept who you are now. Of course, you can work to better yourself and that’s great. But there are certain things that are innately you, so embrace them!