25 things to think about upon turning 25

Well, it's official. I am half way through my 20's and well on my way to the dreaded 30. I have now been 25 for exactly a week at midnight and I have to say, it really doesn't feel too much different from 24. However, it has made me reevaluate some things. I have this little "life" to do list I keep. It's sort of an ongoing list where I write down things I want to do or goals to accomplish. Anyway, the list just seems to get longer and the amount of items crossed off are very few in comparison. I thought about listing these things out here, but I've decided against it. It's not really the point I'm trying to make and these "things" are not what's really important. (I realize that makes the title a bit misleading, but I promise to share these goals as I accomplish them.)

Here's the problem...there are so many distractions! Everywhere. When do you have time to just focus on you, and what you want? Obviously there are people who have mastered this in the past, but it makes me wonder what you have to give up in order to do so? For example, with me, I want to write. Why is it so hard? There are thousands of stories and ideas floating around in my head daily and I can't seem to find the time to make sense of it all and put it down on paper. I fear that the vast majority of truly successful people are also the most lonely. It makes me wonder if success and happiness can ever live together peacefully. To have a passion and to be good at something is gift, but you really have to lose yourself in the task at hand in order to be victorious in this endeavor. And how do people do this with so many other responsibilities? 

Here's where the age thing comes into play. I mean, I'm not getting any younger and the amount of responsibility, as I'm sure we've all becoming increasingly aware of, just seems to pile up the older we get. All of life's annoying little "to do's" take over and the big picture gets lost. None of us want to look back on our lives with regret, but there are just so many things to be regretful about: We regret relationships, how we handled them or didn't handle them, losing ourselves in them...sometimes we regret even being in them at all. We regret friendships that we let slip away or ones that proved to be less than real. We regret not spending enough time with our families, taking people for granted, and we regret not taking advantage of opportunities, or maybe even taking too much advantage of an opportunity. But I think the things I tend to regret the most are the times I hold back from all of these things. The times that I don't say or do something out of fear or because it didn't fit into my current plan for my life...These times are countless. 

What I've come to finally understand is that there is no plan. I can make to do lists all day long and they will never be complete, because life doesn't stop. You just gotta roll with it and figure it out as you go. So, I've resolved to revise my list. Maybe I will even throw it out completely. Take a different approach. And while I still fully intend on accomplishing things on this list, I'm going to do it my way. I want to face life unafraid of circumstance or outcome. To simply live and do and grow and create. I want to figure out who I am and what defines me, and hopefully, where I fit in inside this crazy world of ours. 

I'll keep you posted on how that goes, and hopefully my late twenties will prove more productive, and less regretful, than my early twenties did. 

Until next time...