In the previous blog, we discussed why the 20’s are a critical decade. In this blog, we are going to focus on one of Meg Jay’s key points, which is exploration. Society has said that exploration is one of the most important factors in a person’s 20’s.

So what is the difference between what society is calling “exploration” and what Jay defines as exploration? Jay posits that society has instilled in its youth that the decade of the 20’s is a throw away decade. She goes on to say that society has encouraged meaningless exploration, which is not exploration, but actually is procrastination. The point of this message is not to discount exploration, but exploration that is not intended to count.

There are three major types of exploration that are critical for developing success:

• Career – Jay encourages young people to take risks and go for their dreams. If you want to create a start up company, this is the time to do it. It is part of exploring your life and setting yourself up for a valuable future.
• Partner – This TED talk explains that many times in your 20’s, you may “date down.” You may not care about whether the person is meeting your standards of what a partner should be. However, when everyone begins to start settling down, it is easy to grab the person closest to you. Make sure you are holding to your standards and exploring what a good partner will be.
• Self – Research has shown that your personality and brain both experience changes in your 20’s. This is the time to explore who you want to be and make the changes that you want to make. This is the time to develop goals, set standards, and work hard to achieve your dreams.

I believe the 20’s are about raising our standards and savoring each and every year. It is the time to take risks on jobs, explore relationships, enjoy success, and learn from failure. Whether we succeed or fail is not the point. The point is that risks are teaching us who we want to be. Risks are also teaching us responsibility and the most important exploration that counts. Don’t throw away your 20’s; instead, claim your 20s!

Chelsey Beauchamp, MS
cbeauchamp @ growcounseling.com