I have found that both myself and my peers share many of the same anxieties about our twenties. First of all, most of us are trying to find ourselves, what we want to do with our lives, where we want to live after college, who we want to date etc.

It seems like the entire world is in the palm of our hands but also that the world is on top of our shoulders.

Some people seem to have it all figured out, and if you’re like me, you’re probably envious of these people. The ones who know exactly what career they want, maybe even the exact company they want to work for, or they just seem to have their entire life planned out down to the last detail.

And if you’re like me, you change your mind every day of what you want to be, who you want to be, and constantly battling it out with freedom vs. conformity. Though, in this time of soul-searching, I’ve discovered advice that comforts me.

The first piece of advice is that there is no real “timeline.” There’s this preconceived notion we tend to have that we have to have it all figured out by a certain age or that we have little time to figure out major life choices.

That is not the case though. We are all going at things at our own pace, and that’s okay. There is plenty of time in the world to do all the things you want to do or want to achieve.

The second piece of advice is that perception is everything. We are constantly using our senses to perceive, process, and interpret the world around us. The tricky part of it is that misperceptions happen incredibly easily.

For example, we all know those people who look so perfect on social media. When we take in those images of what we perceive and interpret as “perfect” as compared to ourselves, we are lying to ourselves and ultimately creating a false reality.

The truth is that you are looking at a false representation of that person’s life and taking it as “reality.” Even though, we really don’t know what goes on behind closed doors.

From here, you have to remind yourself that you are not anyone else, nor is anyone you. You are the author of your story and you have the ability to write, edit and publish it however you want to. It is not just anyone’s story, it’s your story.

Gillian Eubanks junior health communications major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or gdeubanks@eiu.edu