Image from ~Coquí

I’m turning 29 soon – and I had a moment. It was a moment when I realized that my 20s are eclipsing before my eyes, like a total eclipse of the sun, never to come again in my lifetime.

Looking back over this decade of self-discovery, I can categorize periods of my 20s as many different things, but what I’ll remember most is the energy I brought to each new phase that helped change my perspective. It could be called the “Roaring 20s,” as I came out of undergrad bright-eyed and professionally “green,” poised with the vigor to take on whatever life threw at me. I was curious about learning all that I could about the post-collegiate world, whether it was how to handle office politics and difficult people or how to master my job in order to get to the next level. In addition to investing in my own professional development, I was equally enthusiastic about my social development, going to happy hours after work and meeting new people whenever I got the chance, staying out some nights as though I didn’t have to work the next day. I knew going into my early 20s that this was perhaps the one time in my life when I could be completely self-focused and carefree. I was satisfied with having only a few major responsibilities, such as paying rent on my own and purchasing my first car. I wanted to feel like I was making it on my own and I left my early 20s having accomplished this.

My mid-20s became a little more “adult” in the sense that I’d decided to change industries within my chosen career path, spurring new challenges that helped me further define my own strengths and weaknesses. I’d also taken a relationship I’d begun in my early 20s out of college and made the weighty decision to maintain it long-distance. Having never experienced a long-distance relationship before, I agreed to it wholeheartedly, spending the next two years of my life on the phone, exchanging e-mails, receiving flowers and taking trains for once-a-month visits. Yet I told myself at the time that I was still building my career and wasn’t ready to take the next step… until I hit my late 20s.

My late 20s have been a reality check. I’ve had to reflect on moments from my early- and mid-20s in order to make life-altering decisions in my late 20s, only to change those life-altering decisions again. I left my life in Washington, D.C. in order to start a new one in New York City. I moved to the city for a relationship and then moved across the city to get out of one. I’m still focused on my career, only thinking more out-of-the-box about paths I can take as I consider new locations. I still value the tall tales gained from new experiences, but it’s not so much a focus of mine as it used to be. Now, as my 20s enter their last year, I am more particular about what I want in life and can be confident about how to get there. I’m also more concerned with the quality of the relationships I’ve established than I was in my early- and mid-20s.

There is truth in the saying that you get wiser with age, and based on what I’ve learned thus far in my 20s, I can approach the next decade in the areas of life, love, relationships and career with a more valuable and genuine perspective.

How would you describe your current phase of life in your 20s or 30s? What have you learned?