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Redefining Your Life Purpose: Grappling Between What Has Been and What’s Next
When I hit twenty-four I began to notice a change in myself.
For the first time, ever, I genuinely felt as though I had aged. I had never felt ‘old’ but something in me shifted. I could look back on years now. My childhood and teen years were quickly distancing away from me and I realised I’d soon be closer to thirty than eighteen. One night as I sat in a McDonald’s I saw what appeared to be a group of late-teens on a night out. I felt weird. I realised that I’m no longer the fresh-faced youth experiencing the adventures that can be had on a night out for the first time, going around with enthusiasm and boundless expectations. I’m something of an old-hat at this stage. I began to feel weirdly displaced. I felt more experienced, mature, and aware. I felt older. I felt sad.
At twenty-four, I began to feel frustrated. Something was ‘off’ with me. I felt incomplete, as though I had failed to really accomplish anything. At eighteen, I had an idea of what my life might be like by my mid-20s. I had dreams and ambitions to fulfil. Reality hit me: I’d accomplished almost none of them. My early 20s were a tempestuous period, at times a free-spirited adventure going out and partying, exploring, challenging myself; at other times it was a difficult grind fighting depression and anxiety and…
