Special Edition: October 2022

These are questions that I need to think thoroughly about, especially in my 20s. Friendships during this
time of my life are greatly tested. I need to keep the friends that are mature and can create a positive
impact upon my life.
I had to cut out many friends from my life because of the negativity they brought me. Those decisions
were soul crushing and broke me with each friend that I cut out of my life. A part of me felt like I was
being selfish and that I was being a terrible person for cutting those people out of my life.
I felt like I did not cherish the good times we had. All the laughs that we shared and the friendships we
had built with one another as we grew up. A part of me felt like I did not recognize the person I was
becoming.
While another part yelled at me to stay in those friendships, I endured all the pain I was feeling so I can
save everyone else. It was so bad to the point that I felt like I was always saving others, and I wished
someone else was there to save me. At the end of the day, I knew I had to do that for my well-being.
Yet, the most important lesson that I have come to learn in my 20s is that it is alright to choose myself.
There is nothing wrong with that. I have to do what is best for myself first before helping others out.
Choosing myself was the best decision I have ever made in my 20s because it gave me a great deal
of strength, one that I never thought that I would ever have. As a girl, I always wanted to be there for
everyone and make sure they were happy, even if it meant sacrificing my own happiness for their sake.
And as I grew up, I knew that was not a healthy thing to do.
This new strength made me feel like I was unbreakable, and that whatever challenges life throws at me,
I will be able to face it with my head up high. The way a strong woman would be.
My newfound strength helped me fall in love with the strong, independent woman that I am slowly
becoming. That is the love that I want to build at this time in my life. This strength is giving me the
confidence that I have always wanted to have, the one where I am loving the woman I am slowly
becoming, minute by minute.
Being in my 20s has been a wild ride, to say the least. But it is also a time of growth, maturity, and soul
searching, a place in your life where you will be able to find yourself. It is a place of transition from
being a child, and turning into the person you want to become.
And to every person reading this, the overall message I want to send to you is to enjoy your 20s, enjoy
the person you are slowly becoming, because there will never be another time like this in your life. You
are amazing, just the way you are.
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