C'est La Vie, an Adult's Excuse to Settle.

"C'est la vie" translates to "Such is life" translates to "accept life as it is". I hate this saying. It's weird. To me it sounds like you're settling, and it is not okay.

You never realize you spend your entire life working at or for something. It could be anything-  a graduation, a degree, a company, even a person. What? Yup. Let me stop you right there at that last one: a person. A human being. Someone you're supposed to be with for the rest of your life. Out of the bajillion people on earth, you, my friend, are settling for one person who you've deemed at "just okay".

At age 25 (plus or minus 5 years), you're likely to be comfortably working at a nice job with nice perks and nice people in your life.  But why are we settling for "nice" when we deserve spectacular? When we deserve to be hopelessly and ridiculously in love? Ponder for a moment. Did you put in this effort to settle for mediocre?

It makes sense though: graduate --> career --> get married. It's even commonly called "settling down". We've all heard it. Engraved in our minds by family, friends, and social media antics so why wouldn't we follow the norm, right? Wrong. So, so wrong.

These next couple of years are crucial and astonishing...cherish them! These are the years you'll never get back- the time to make mistakes and learn lessons. To fall in and out of love because why not?! You have the rest of your lives to accept what's been handed to you- now is not that time. Hold this moment and time so dearly to your heart like that smartphone you can't let go of. Date and make mistakes and continue dating! Flirt with 3, 4, 5 people at once and make zero excuses about having no time or brushing off the good ol' "when the time is right" nonsense. Try talking to strangers, strike up a conversation at the gym, online dating, hate it, love it- it doesn't matter. What matters is you're putting yourself out there whole heartedly and looking for someone who will be breathtaking. Someone who will phyiscally take your breath away. And yes, it will be that amazing. You will never have time if you don't make it. Just as you had to go through a trial-and-error phase for life up until this point, such goes for dating and being in love. The key here is to never settle.

So I leave you here with these words of wisdom, "The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it." -Steve Jobs