If 40 is the new 30 and 30 is the new 20, then 24 is somewhere between dazed & confused and probably caffeinated. Twenty four is kind of like Taylor’s 22 but a little less miserable and hopefully more magical; a cross between effective decision-making & hopeless indecision; the balance of adulting & actual adulthood.

Hey, nobody likes you when you’re 23. And while 24 is “really f*cking old” (according to my friend), I’m excited for it.

At twenty four, you’re far enough out of college to know what you like/don’t like about a career, but not far enough into the real world to know what you want to do for the rest of your life. You like your first (or second) job out of school. You get it. You’re good at it. But there are days that you want to quit the whole corporate desk-job thing all together and become a baker at the cute cupcake shop down the street. But you don’t because, well, money & security and having a “real job” is a good thing, so you stay and dream about the day you can open up a coffee shop/bar with cold brew on tap (@sardone).

At twenty four, you keep drinking vodka but swap the cranberry juice for club soda, spend more nights drinking wine in leggings than you care to admit & actually appreciate a good happy hour with a solid cheese plate. Thursday is sorta still the new Friday and yes, hangovers actually do get worse after you graduate.

At twenty four, you legitimately care about your body. Like for real. You start eating vegetables regularly (and enjoying them) & crave exercise–not for weight-loss necessarily, but more because it’s a stress reliever and you need that with your adult real job. It’s not all about how you look but more about how you feel, yet you always make time for 2 a.m. pizza on a Saturday night.

At twenty four, good friends matter. Good relationships matter. You spend less time worrying about what other people think of you and put more effort into the people who make you feel good. You have a limited amount of free time, so you don’t waste it on sucky people who don’t care about you. Laughter is the best medicine & long hugs go a long way. You start to feel really thankful for the amazing people in your life.

At twenty four, you start investing in your happiness. You start to figure out the things that truly give you joy. With complete freedom to do whatever you want to do, you feel anxious completely petrified by the endless possibilities, but then liberated because you literally can do/be/feel/become whatever you want.

I turned twenty four yesterday. My day consisted of scrolling through Facebook posts, catching up with old friends whom I haven’t talked to in a while, crying in the supply closet at work because I didn’t have my life all figured out & drinking really good sauvignon blanc with one of my favorite people in the world. At twenty four, my life is still messy, but I’m getting to be okay with it. I don’t have everything figured out, but I’m coming around to accepting it. At twenty four, I’m starting to feel like I’m finally settling in & figuring out exactly who I want to be. &.

{Thank you for everyone who reached out & made my birthday extremely special. I’m humbled by the amount of love and amazing, supportive people I have in my life.}