When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life gives you limes, make limeade. And when life gives you strawberries, add them to your drinks to make them a little bit sweeter. 

The absolute theme of my life the past two years has been unexpected surprises. I started this blog writing to twenty-something’s like me but I’m slowly learning that all of this will still apply to all of us in ten years. When I was a kid, I had a vision for my life at twenty-five. Despite what many people in society say now, I know it’s a vision that a lot of us (especially us girls) had for our futures. My idea was that I would be married by twenty-five, with kids by twenty-seven….the mind of a ten year old—am I right??? 

When I got into high school, my goals shifted a bit. The marriage thing was still important to me but by twenty five I said that I wanted to be in med school. A goal that unfortunately shifted quickly once I realized the long path ahead of me. I made the decision to change when I could shake the feeling that I didn’t have the emotional or financial support to make it through eight long years of school successfully. Fast forward to the end of my college career, the new goal became to wait a year then start working on a graduate degree. Obviously that year has come and went…and here we are. 

What am I saying here besides rambling on about my unfulfilled goals? I’m saying that I know a lot of people my age feel this frustration and it’s not talked about enough amongst us. That it is OKAY to cry about not having a husband, not getting accepted into school or not getting the job you want. And then after the cry it’s okay to feel lost and uncomfortable for a little bit, and that little bit may be a few years. For people like me who are extremely goal oriented, when we aren’t working towards a goal that feels important and valid it makes us feel like we are drowning. It then becomes hard to pick the right goal to focus on for fear of making the wrong decision. 

Back to the strawberries and limes and lemons…

I know we have all heard the saying about getting life giving us a citrus and squeezing it to make some juice. That’s an easy step one. But sometimes you have to take whatever life gives you after that and make it fit. It may not make a  whole new beverage, but it can be a compliment to what you already have. 

Now go make some strawberry lemonade 🍓