The Big 2-0: Older, Yes, But Wiser? Not So Fast.

There's a certain weight that comes with hitting the big 2-0, isn't there? For years, eighteen felt like the pinnacle of adulthood – the legal drinking age in some places, the right to vote, all that jazz. But twenty? Twenty feels... different. It’s often touted as the true doorstep to your twenties, a time when you’re supposedly shedding the last vestiges of adolescence and blossoming into a fully-formed, wise individual with a firm grasp on life’s complexities.

And yet, here I am, officially in my twenties, and I can't help but feel a little like I'm still fumbling in the dark. The societal script says I should be a little more put-together, a touch more enlightened, maybe even have a five-year plan neatly laid out. But the reality? Well, it’s a delightful mess, if I'm honest. I still make silly mistakes, sometimes I forget to call my mom back right away (sorry, Mom!), and my life choices often feel more like educated guesses than profound declarations of intent. Wisdom, it seems, hasn't magically arrived with the turning of a new decade.

It’s a funny thing, this expectation. You turn twenty, and suddenly everyone assumes you’ve unlocked some secret level of adulting. People ask about your career aspirations, your long-term goals, your deepest insights into the human condition. And I'm just sitting here thinking, "Gosh, I'm still trying to figure out if I put my socks on inside out this morning!" It's a comforting thought, though, to know I'm probably not alone in this delightful state of not-quite-there-yet. We're all in this awkward, beautiful transition, aren't we?

Perhaps true wisdom isn't a destination you reach by a specific birthday. Maybe it's not a switch that flips when you blow out twenty candles. Instead, it feels more like a slow, meandering journey, full of wrong turns, U-turns, and plenty of pit stops to re-evaluate. It’s about collecting experiences, good and bad, learning from them, stumbling, getting back up, and perhaps, just perhaps, acquiring a tiny bit of perspective along the way. Even if that perspective mostly tells you how much you still don't know.

So, as I embrace this new chapter, this big 2-0, I'm letting go of the pressure to suddenly become the wise elder statesman of my peer group. Instead, I’m choosing to lean into the beautiful chaos of still figuring things out. I'll take my small victories, acknowledge my blunders, and laugh at my own youthful indiscretions. Because maybe, just maybe, the wisest thing to realize at twenty is that it's perfectly okay not to be wise at all – not yet, anyway. The adventure, and the learning, are just getting started.