Leaving My Mid-Twenties

I'm sitting on my couch eating leftovers while receiving cat cuddles. My birthday is in a few days, and that means I'm leaving my mid-twenties to enter into my la- hold on let me try again. My late t- oh gosh... [insert deep breaths here] One more try, my... late... 20s... I just cringed.

I never thought I would say this, but my knees are at the point where I know it's going to rain that day based on the pain radiating from them.

I'd be lying if I told you I am excited about being another year closer to my 30s, but I also can't say I'm upset, either. What's the word for being in between? Euthymic? Doesn't matter, you get the point.

I asked Google what's so great about being 27. I couldn't find any reasons I could relate to. All the articles I read were more or less saying it is an insignificant age. I decided to put together a small list of the reasons I'm looking forward to being a single-27-year-old-cat-mom.

As mentioned previously, I am eating leftovers. One big reason why I love being in the Forever-Single-Club is that I get to enjoy the food I've been thinking about all day. I know what you're about to ask, what does this have to do with my late-20s? Y'all, your girl here can't cook to save her life. If it was up to Gordon Ramsay, I would never step foot in a kitchen. However, my late-20s is a good place to start learning how to prepare more than rice, chicken, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and on the rare occasion burgers. My leftover ravioli would give Mr. Ramsay nightmares, but I rather enjoy tasteless dishes that have been microwaved. I'm joking; my jokes are as dry as this pasta.

It's weird being single at this age. My friends are either married, have kids, they're in committed relationships where I get to be the third wheel, or they're still trying to hold on to their college partying days. Thankfully, I fall into the category of never-leaves-my-apartment-and-will-cancel-plans-to-read-a-book. I'm thrilled to be at a point in my life where I don't have to make excuses and feel bad for canceling plans. I can tell my friends I don't want to hang out, and they will be relieved I canceled.

I never did see myself as a housewife or a mother, and there's nothing wrong with the people who envision that for themselves. I spent so many years wishing I was someone else; it was hard to build a future when I didn't want to be me. I've recently started therapy to delve into the question, 'why do I hate myself?' I'm pretty sure if I had an MRI performed, doctors would see anxiety and depression floating around in my brain. (I don't actually know how that works since I have a communications degree.) Anyhow, I'm working on healing my traumas so as to not carry around this weight into my 30s.

I have friends in their 30s. I asked them for their advice. A lot of my friends said I should travel more. Some said they would've done less Pop-Lock-And-Drop-It because they have bad knees. One of my friends replied with some wisdom, "27 is a good middle point. Some people spend their early and mid-20s partying and trying to experience as much of life as they can. They pack their days full of events, traveling, and desperately swiping right to find a connection. They spend their time trying to find a good career to pay down debts and move out of their parent's house. Your 30s are where you get comfortable with how your life is and want to settle down. You should spend your late-20s relaxing and figuring out your goals in life."

I have to put some real thought into this. What are my goals in life? Where do I want to be in life when I'm in my early-30s? Do I really want to live in Ohio forever? Now truly is the best time to change my life. It becomes a lot harder to pack up and move once I become comfortable. I need a few more days/weeks/months to figure out the answers to these questions.

Realistically, I should start with cooking classes. I feel like that's the first step I should take to change my life and make the rest of my 20s better than reheated cheese ravioli. My bank account agrees.