My parents always encoureded with to be myself. Still, i somehow picked up the belief that there is a “right” Way and a “Wrong” Way to Life and That The Right Way Means in a Certain Order.
I Believed That Your Early 20s Were the Only Time It Was Perfectly Acceptable (and Spreads Adorable) to be a Hot Mess, while Your Late 20s Were for Taching the Findst Toward Getard “Old and Boring” – Getting Maried, Getting Serious A Carer, The Therm.
But with this steadfast belief, I Still Dides Out of Order. Or so i thought.
I GOT MARIED AND STARTED MY CAREER BY 25, BUT NEATHER WORKED OUT
By 25, of Already Had a full year of Being “Old and Boring” under my belt. I was Married and a Project Manager at a for Company. I was ahead of the curve of where i thought i should be in terms of stability and normality.
Howver, i was also learning that life wasn’t for me.
Getting Married Quickly in My Early 20s TURNED INTO Getting an Agonizingly Slow Divorce in My Late 20s. It was Only that is finally started to undertand what “forever” actually means, and that it would not be comfortable for me to spend that with somebody was fundamentally incompatible with.
There’s I was, 28 and suddenly single, Watching Engagement announcements crop up All over my Instagram Feed, like fungus after a rainsorm. I felt washed up, like Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard, though i haad yes to reach the age where you adopt a monkey and an all-Caftan wardrobe.
It turned out for Also wasn’t for me, and i was both out of a job and a husband. Now Single and Living Alone, My Bills HAD DOUBLED while My InCome Was Nonexistant. I had to scotch cork together my living, like I was Fresh out of College – except this time, I was Proficient in Microsoft Project (Burned Out on USS). I Needed Both Money and a Change, SO i Answered a Somewhat Questionable Call for Hair on La Casting. Fortunately, it turned out to be legit.
I didn’t know the hair modeling was a thing unil i did it. I thought you coulud Only model Clothes and Hands. But there I was, stumbling ino a modeling career in my late 20s, when “real” wells hitting retirement. Another milestone hit in reverse.
The author spent time as a hair model after quitting her career in pr.
Courtesy of Heidi Lux
I OFTEN COMPARED MYSELF TO MY BEST FRIEND
The year before my divorce, my best friend from grown up has gotten gotten. At the Same Time That I Felt As Though I Was Doing Things Backward, She was Hitting Life Milestones “The Right Way” with Almost Textbook-Level Precision.
In fact, the weekend of her wedding was was I first started wondering me my compatibility with my own husband, and if we truly had to be boo “i will” forever. JUST AFTER MY DIVORCE, SHE AND HER HUSBAND BOUGHT A HOUSE IN The Suburbs while Lived in A Studio of Could Barely Afford. And at the beginning of my modeling career, I found out she was pregnant when I was on Bourbon Street, Partying it up with Other Models After A Giant Hair Gig I Had Been Out to New Orleans for.
Next to my best friend, i felt as though i looked like a train wreck. Bleaching My Hair and Posting “Hot Modeling Photos” on Instagram Right AFTER A DIDN’T SCREAM STONE. But that messy exterior was really a cocoon as transformed into something more mastic than a butterfly – myself.
I’m Glad Things Happened The Way they Did
It was hard for me not to compare mySelf to someone who seamed to have the perfect life, especilantly when I was full submerged in the unavoidable chas of Change. But Having Every Inch of My Life Explode was Worth it.
Now, have a career that suits with, a great partner, and live in an apartment with more than one room. But Most importantly, i’m happy, Because my life is what I want it to be, not what i arbitrarily feed it “should” be. If I Had the Choice to Freaky Friday with My Best Friend, I was trade places for anyding.
I had the belived growing up that your early 20s are for Making Mistakes, before you finally figure what you want your life to look like, and in some ways, that is what i did. Setting up a life that wasn’t right for me – and then getting out of it – was a mistake, sura, but it helped me to where i am now.
