Life

I saw a post not long ago about waiting for the good parts of life.

When you're at school, you can't wait to finish and get a job. When you've got a job, you can't wait to be retired. When you're in a relationship, you can't wait to be married. When you're married, you can't wait to have kids. When you've had kids, you can't wait till their older — and so on, and so on.

I get it.

I'm guilty of waiting for life to get "better." Sometimes, it's difficult to see the positives in day-to-day life. But it doesn't mean there isn't any.

Here's my current status. I'm 20 years old. I have an enjoyable, full-time job. I have my own car. I live with my parents, and my boyfriend lives with us. I'm very lucky.

There's a lot of young adults out there who don't have the same love, support, and financial security I'm blessed with. There's a lot of people who don't get on with their families as well as I get on with mine. There's a lot of people who hate their jobs.

Thinking about those people makes me realise how materialistic my daily thoughts are. I'm so stressed about saving money for a house deposit that I forget to live in the moment.

You see all those inspirational posts telling you to "Buy the plane tickets, eat the cake, quit the job: and I think, although it's a good message, it can be intimidating to think like that. You need to do things FOR YOU — big or small. Whether it just means treating yourself to a night out, or it does in fact mean quitting your job to find happiness, it's important to put yourself first. Happiness should always be a priority.

I've spent the past few months getting myself so stressed out about saving money that I've buried myself. Because, at the end of the day, I could get hit by a car tomorrow and that could be it. Is the figure in my bank account going to be projected at my funeral? No. Are people gonna talk about where I live or what car I drive? No. Is it worth spending a bit of money every now and again to create a life worth living? One hundred percent.

In light of this new mindset I'm trying to channel — yesterday, me and my boyfriend planned and booked a long weekend in Madrid where we will get to spend our anniversary, along with seeing a band we both love. It's not going to be cheap but it's going to be an amazing experience and it gives me something to look forward to. Little things like that just make day-to-day life a little more exciting and a little more worth it.

I think it's important to have interests and to have things to look forward to. And if that means spending a bit of your savings every now and again, so what? I'm beginning to understand that there's no point waiting for the "good things" in life. What is important is to look for the actual good things in life... and if you're really struggling that much then MAKE the good things in life.

My point is, I think it's important to remember everything you have instead of focusing on things you don't have. It's important to save your money and buy your house and your car, but it's also important to have fun and experience everything you can.

This is all more of a message to myself than to anyone reading it. But I also hope it helps to spark a bit of adventure in whoever is reading this.

Life's too short to stress.