10 years to be selfish.

I think most people will agree that during your twenties, it is socially acceptable to be selfish. You can jump on a plane and go travelling, you can pack a job in and bum around for a while, and you can run away from your problems and cry into your mum’s shoulder: all are allowed.

As soon as the big 3-0 appears though, things can change. Your fun little job that allowed you to ‘find yourself’ suddenly seems to have no career progression. You can’t up and leave everything to visit Koh Samui because you have a mortgage, direct debits and house plants. Hell, you might even have little human beings you’re now responsible for. I don’t want to seem like a Debbie-downer who is dreading life after twenty-nine because I can’t wait for that part of my life. It’ll be exactly that: a new part of my life with a bunch of new adventures (sometimes they’ll just have to be arranged in advance!). I’m just trying to use this as motivation to make the most of having no responsibilities or permanent roots. My point is that your twenties is a time to be opportunistic and do whatever the hell you want. I never want to be the person who looked back over her life and never left her home town, never saw the world and never did all those things she wanted to just because she was trying to be sensible. There’s a time to be rational and it’s not at twenty-one! I have a little trouble remembering that. In my mind, I’m fourty-two and I think about all the consequences of all my actions. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing but I need to loosen the reins and have fun. I need to let my hair down, metaphorically and physically. I want to have so many stories to tell people that I won’t know where to begin.

I’m starting my own little campaign to start saying yes. Shall we book to go Australia next week? Yes. Do you want to get another tattoo tomorrow? Yes. Want to skive off work and Netflix binge day? Yes. I’m  twenty-two in January and I’ll have eight years left to do all the crazy shit I can think of and I’m not going to waste a minute of it. So, if someone invites me somewhere or asks if I want to do something, I’m not going to over-think it. I’m just going to start saying yes.