We grew up in a fast-paced environment. Everyone around us was chasing their dreams, getting degrees, and getting married. They were doing it all so fast; they went from one idea to the next. They taught us how to move quickly and chase our dreams. In the media we saw young celebrities getting married and being successful.

In school, college was thrown at us at every turn and we were always being asked what we wanted to do with our lives. There was never the option to just stop. We were expected to go from high school to college to marriage to living our dreams. It was ingrained in us that we can’t slow down ever. We need to constantly be moving and chasing our dreams. There is no time to be not okay. There was no time to stop and smell the roses. Then 2020 happened.

In March of 2020 we were told to stop. For the first time in our lives everyone told us to stop. We were sent home from college, we were told we couldn’t date, and we were told that the economy wasn’t stable enough to pursue our dreams. It has been so ingrained in us to never slowdown that we didn’t know how to handle quarantine. There were no elders giving us advice about how to slow down. We were on our own and it was new territory for everyone. How do we stop and smell the roses if we were always told it wasn’t an option?

It was terrifying for us to think that our lives were on hold. It didn’t even seem real to us at the time. So many of us just couldn’t handle it and we fell apart a little bit. That’s okay though. It’s okay that quarantine changed you. It’s okay that you weren’t okay for a while and maybe you still aren’t okay. We don’t have to have our lives figured out right now. It was always okay to not have our lives figured out but now living in a pandemic it’s even more okay. Our futures have never seemed so uncertain and that’s okay.

This life was not meant to be so painful and hard. We are meant to live freely, not confined by societal rules of success. Let yourself breathe and feel at peace with this life.

Take your time reaching your goals; there is no rule saying you have to be at a specific place in your life at a specific time. Everything will be okay; you do not have to live your life at the speed of light. Take time out of your life right now to slow down and smell the roses. You never know what you might find out about yourself.