#OwnYour20s: How To Make This Your Best Decade Yet

You’re on the precipice of life itself. Here’s how you can live it.

- Chinggay Labrador

On paper, it’s easy to define your 20s. The second you turn 21, a plethora of rights fall into your lap, allowing you to sign papers, have dominion, be Someone—a significant player—in this world. You earn your bachelor’s degree or declare you don’t need it, move on to graduate school or plunge headfirst into work. Your 20s welcome you to the world of Adulting… which sometimes, you resist offhand; other times, you embrace fully and wholeheartedly; and most times, you love and hate simultaneously.

WELCOME TO YOUR 20S.

Your entire life leads up to your 20s. You don’t spend 17, 18, sometimes 20 years in school just for the fun of it. Every summer spent perfecting your pirouettes, practicing your pitches, performing for your parents is meant to instill discipline, perseverance, and confidence—traits that may not have made sense to you at 11, but will pay off now.

You’ve finally come out of your teens, climbing your way through all the rookie mistakes with broken and repaired relationships, and failed and rebuilt expectations. The people who matter have seen you oscillate between darkness and light, riding on hormonal highs and lows until you’ve found a spot where you can feel safe, even for just a few seconds.