I’m not going to lie—I’m not entirely where I want to be right now.

But, to be fair, I’m 22 years old. How many people my age are?

Right now, I’m still living with my parents, but I have my eye on a cheap apartment in the town—the town where all my friends live, and where I stand a chance of getting the sort of job I want. However, I cannot currently afford aforementioned cheap apartment after four years dedicated to university. And so, I’m working retail jobs until I can.

I’m single, I don’t have a lot of friends that I see on a regular basis, and I’m not good at making new friends. All of this sort of adds up to a general feeling of “meh” about where I am right now.

I know I’m not alone in this.

There are a lot of people out there who aren’t exactly where they’d like to be. There are many young adults still trying to figure out what sort of life they want to live and how they can achieve it—as well as a lot of older adults who really don’t feel “settled” yet. It would seem it’s part of the human condition because few of us are lucky enough to be born directly into the place where we want to be.

We all have goals we want to achieve. We all want to find ourselves and become comfortable in our identities. We all have places we want to go, things we want to see, stuff we want to do.

And sometimes, when we’re stuck in that place where we don’t want to be for long enough, it becomes easy to think that we’re going to be there forever.

It’s easy to lose hope and to think that the things that you want are never going to come to you—either because you aren’t good enough or strong enough to get it—or because the whole cause feels hopeless.

But here’s the thing: you aren’t at the end of the race yet.

After all, change is the only constant in life. Maybe it won’t always be the change that you expect, but it will be change nonetheless. A year from now, you will be an entirely different person. Ten years from now, you will have an entirely different life—hopefully a life that you’re more satisfied with.

I know change takes time to come. It can be frustrating sometimes, it can be disheartening, but where you are now is not where you will always be. Time may pass slowly, but it passes, and it brings with it many beautiful things. It brings with it your dreams, a new love, new friends, new family. It brings with it an endless array of possibilities—so many, I’m sure you can’t even imagine them all now.

So, don’t get stuck in today. Don’t keep dwelling on the idea that this is your life and this is forever. It isn’t. People come and go. Dreams come true and evolve into new dreams. And along the way, even in times when you are not satisfied, there are still many things that should not be taken for granted.

I may not be satisfied living in my parent’s house—but at least I have a place to stay. There are many people out there who cannot say that, and I know that I am incredibly privileged to be able to do so. I may not currently have the life or job that I want, but I have the means to work toward it. I am grateful for that.

And, although I don’t know what your circumstances are, whatever they are, I am sure that you can think of something in them that makes them bearable for now.

That’s a problem with being dissatisfied with today—you run the risk of taking things for granted. It’s not the only problem, of course—just a problem.

Enjoy life while you can, but keep working toward the life you want. Stop and smell the roses, and then charge forward. Whatever you do, do not give into despair. Do not give up. Your life can be exactly what you want it to be, just so long as you do not give up hope.

~

Author: Ciara Hall
Image: Skinny Casual Lover/Flickr
Editor: Lieselle Davidson
Copy Editor: Leah Sugerman
Social Editor: Sara Karpanen