#Musings: It's Okay to Be 28 and Still Feel Lost in Life

Here’s the sad truth. When we are newly minted teenagers, at the age of thirteen the twenties seem like such a grownup age to be. Even though most of us would probably not admit it right now but at thirteen we knew exactly how we wanted our lives to turn out to be when we turn twenty eight.

Of course once you turn eighteen and get officially branded as an adult, you being to realize that ‘adulting’ is difficult. That even though you gain in wisdom and in years, sometimes you do not have all the answers. Sometimes we go in search for people who have been adults way longer than we have. And sometimes we are pleasantly surprised to learn that even they don’t have all answers.

You cannot exactly pinpoint the time when your parents started asking you for your opinions and your advice, instead of being the other way around. Was it the day you began saving up for your future or the time you mollycoddled your father into signing up for annual health checkups just to be on the safe side? You did everything you were supposed to do.

Finish school, graduate college, study somewhere, find a stable secure job. Maybe you were in a fair few relationships. And maybe sometimes they didn’t work out. Maybe you are engaged to be married sometime in the near future. Or maybe you are still waiting for love to show up at your doorstep. But despite all of these things – despite the Universe aligning itself perfectly to make all your dreams come true – some nights, at midnight, when the world is fast asleep, you’re wide awake. Because you feel hopelessly lost! You don’t really know why you’re feeling this way but a nagging part of your brain tells you that since you’re twenty eight and lead a decent enough existence, you needn’t be bothered. You needn’t feel lost.

But I am here to tell you that it is okay to feel lost. It is completely find to breakdown at times because you’re not supposed to have all the answers. Age is nothing but a number. You shouldn’t justify how you feel with the candles that light up your birthday cake. You are allowed to feel whatever you want to feel. And being sad at times doesn’t mean you’re not grateful for the good things in your life or the amazing people who surround you.

Feeling lost is a very human emotion and we shouldn’t ignore how we might be feeling because someone else might have it worse. Don’t sweep your feelings under the rug because you feel guilty about feeling sad and broken at 3 am on a random night. It is okay to have your life completely together and still think that something is missing. The only advice anyone would give you is – don’t dwell on it.

Life can never be all good things or all bad things. Eventually everything rolls back into the happy, safe middle. But until that time arrives, just be okay with being okay. There’s nothing wrong it. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.