My 20s

Poem looking at the struggles and inner debates facing a young person in their 20s in 2023.

Young, wild and free.

I guess technically that’s true.

I am young at 21

wild in a sense I have free will

and free to choose what I do with it.

But, I think to BE young, wild and free you have to

Want it.

Earn it.

Actually, LIVE it.

Young, wild and free to me is going out to a club I get bored at and drinking too much.

But in the end, I’ll come back to my own bed, not too late

execute my 3 step skin care routine to my best drunken ability,

drink my pint of water

and reassure myself;

that WAS wild, I WAS free.

I did enough to let loose so that people know that I’m young.

I’m living to be young.

I AM wild and free, see?

My drunken selfie.

Remember how I overshared during our game of ‘never have I ever?’

Didn’t I prove to you how wild I am?

With my nonchalant attitude produced purely once alcohol enters my system.

The tattoo on my arms that I go through phases of loving,

and then absolutely despising.

But I need them, their wild.

See?

I am free!

I live away from home and can do whatever I want.

Which mainly consists of me sitting on my sofa and wondering where the hours have gone.

Or days on end studying so hard that I feel brain dead.

Because after all,

I am young.

This is my time to graft.

I need to work for my future so I can pretend to others I’m as wild and free as I always was.

To travel to places I don’t know much about

to prove ‘hey, I’m free!’

Not to the standards of the generation so consumed by

'grasping life'

and 'working to live'

and 'experiencing the whole entire world by the time you’re 30'

And NEVER being tied down by

Work

Relationships

Pets

Family

Finances

Study.

‘Don’t you want to move city?’

I’ve only been here a year

‘You’re limiting yourself, you HAVE to experiment’

‘Your 20s are to be ‘young wild and free’'

You can’t immerse yourself so much in an experience to truly get to know it.

A place, a culture, a friendship

that takes too long after all.

You have to experience a tiny bit of everything

Surface level will do.

But remember, earn enough money so you can be free.

Love people enough so that you have people that love you.

Be educated enough so you sound ‘woke’.

But, don’t try too hard, what an ick.

You’re thinking too much

Too serious,

that’s for being old.

Have another mundane night out,

where we can all sit and pretend to be...

Young, wild, and free.

Author's Note

First poem published to an audience, any constructive reviews are welcome. :)