When I was 21, I was fresh out of an abusive relationship that wrecked my mental health.
The relationship completely rewired my brain… for the worse. The pain was so overwhelming that I temporarily dropped out of college.
I remember praying — begging — God to let me fast forward to my 30s. I didn’t want to feel anymore.
I didn’t want to keep waking up in that body, in that season, carrying trauma I never asked for. If I could’ve skipped my twenties entirely, I would’ve. Gladly.
But God didn’t let me skip anything.
Instead, He let me live through it — every raw, uncertain, transformative year. And now that I’m 30, I can understand why.
My twenties weren’t just about pain. They were about becoming.
At 22, I moved to Europe to study theology at Bible college. I stood in cathedrals in Italy, walked through Hungary, Slovenia, and other European countries.
I learned not just about scripture, but about resilience, grace, and how small we are in the scope of this beautiful world.
At 23, I graduated from college in California with my English degree. It was a year later than I had planned, but I still crossed that stage. And I did it while carrying all the weight I once thought would break me.
At 24, I gave myself permission to start my life over. I left California and moved to Las Vegas. I didn’t know what was next, I just knew I deserved more.
At 25, I watched The Secret and rediscovered my faith in a new, deeper way. I learned that the Law of Attraction and the teachings of Christ weren’t separate truths: they were two languages pointing to the same power. God had never left me. He had just been waiting for me to understand who I really was.
At 26, I met my soulmate.
At 27, I launched my lifestyle brand LoveTravelBeauty. What started as an Instagram page became a whole movement—a love letter to the life I was building with intention and faith. It became a full-on website, monetized TikTok page, monetized YouTube channel, and beyond.
At 28, I married my soulmate.
At 29, we traveled the world together — Paris, New York City, Catalina Island, Barbados, Coachella, Disneyland. Every place felt like a piece of my past being rewritten. Every trip reminded me that I had built this life on purpose.
And now, at 30, I’m still healing, still evolving — but I’m finally standing in the peace I prayed for at 21.
Time doesn’t just heal. It transforms.
I thought my life was over before it had even begun. But here’s the thing: your brain doesn’t even fully develop until age 25. How wild is it that we feel so much pressure to have it all figured out before we even know who we are?
I’m grateful God didn’t answer my prayer to skip the hard parts. Because everything I have now — my marriage, my purpose, my peace — I earned by living every single year of my twenties. Fully.
If you’re in a dark place right now, just know: this isn’t your ending. Don’t rush it. You don’t have to have it all figured out. Just don’t give up. Let yourself live.
Because one day, you’ll look back and realize the years you wanted to skip were the very ones that shaped you.
Leave a Reply