The In Between Years

No one warns you about the in between years.

The years when you are technically an adult but still learning what that even means. The years when you know how to live on your own, paying rent, buying groceries, making decisions, yet still find yourself calling your mom to ask how long chicken lasts in the fridge. The years when you feel independent, but not entirely self sufficient. Strong, but still growing. Sure of who you are becoming, but still unsure of how to get there.

It is a strange, soft middle space.

And the most surprising part is how much of it you share with the people around you. In your twenties, your friends start to feel less like friends and more like family. You study together, fail together, celebrate the tiny wins together. You learn how to be adults together. You spend more time with them than with your own family, and somehow that feels natural. They become your home while your real home slowly becomes a place you visit.

photo by me

These are the years where everyone is growing at different speeds, but somehow still side by side. The years where timelines feel loud, the years of “figure out your career,” “build your life,” “make the right choices.” Yet these are also the years where you learn to trust your own pace. The years where you realize that growing up is not about knowing everything, but about learning yourself in deeper ways.

And somewhere between homework deadlines, late night drives, long talks in someone’s living room, and mornings where you finally feel capable, you begin to build your life. You learn what kind of people you want around you. You learn what peace feels like. You learn that protecting your energy is not selfish, it is necessary. The right friends make you feel grounded. The wrong ones make you feel lost. And in your twenties, that difference becomes painfully and beautifully clear.

Career wise, it is confusing. There are days when you know exactly what you want, and days when you question everything. But maybe that is part of the in between too, understanding that ambition and uncertainty can exist together. It is okay to have a vision without having a perfect map. Becoming the woman you are meant to be does not happen all at once.

Finishing college does not feel like an ending. It feels like standing at the edge of something new, carrying everything you have learned and everyone who has shaped you. It feels like being ready and scared and excited at the same time.

Maybe adulthood is not a single moment. Maybe it is something you grow into, slowly and quietly, in all the in between years that no one talks about.

And maybe, just maybe, this is where life truly begins

Inspired by “20 Something” by SZA — a song that feels like the soundtrack of this chapter. Soft, honest, uncertain, and full of hope. The perfect reminder that no one has it all figured out, and that is exactly what makes these years meaningful.