There is a lot of advice out there for young people. And a lot of it contradicts itself. On the one hand there’s all of the “Be yourself! Follow your dreams! But then there’s also all of the “Be realistic! Suck it up! Get a degree!”
It’s hard enough being a struggling twenty-something without hearing about all the ways we may or may not be doing it all WRONG. But I’m pretty sure there are a few pieces of advice that we can all safely ignore:
- You should settle down/have kids/earn a certain amount by a certain age.
Don’t worry about someone else’s schedule. - When dating, ALWAYS wait the exact right amount of time to text/call/whatever.
Eh. Who cares? - You only find love when you’re not looking for it.
You find it when you find it. Just do your thing and trust that you’ll find your person eventually. - Everyone hates their job, just suck it up.
Um, what? So the world is just a spinning ball of grumpy and unhappy employees and we’re supposed to be fine with that? Life is short. Don’t waste time on a job you don’t like. - You can’t make a career out of art/writing/music!
Yeah, artists aren’t real! All those books and paintings and TV shows that we see everywhere are pure illusion! Except that lots of people make careers out of art. It’s hard, for sure, but without artists we wouldn’t have cartoons or museums or music or cute cell phone cases or awards shows, and who’d want to live in that world? - You can’t wear that/pierce that/dye your hair that color because people won’t take you seriously.
If people don’t take you seriously, don’t take them seriously. - If you don’t get married or have kids you’ll regret it FOREVER.
Everybody, chill out. People live their own lives in their own time and that’s ok. - If you do get married or have kids you’ll be throwing away your career.
Ughhhh. - It’s all about who you know.
Ok, maybe networking matters, but actually being good at what you do matters more. Worry about doing the thing itself, don’t worry about talking to people about doing the thing.
