Growing up, it often feels like life is a race to the “final stages”—car, house, family, kids. Especially for young women, it feels easy to fall into the mindset that life is just a checklist of milestones to accomplish. For a long time, I believed this too. But in my final semester of college, I realized that life didn’t have to follow a predetermined script—I could create my own path. I was lucky to be surrounded by role models who pushed me to follow my own path, especially my mom, who always encouraged me to make choices based on my interests rather than expectations. In addition, I spent a lot of time reading, which introduced me to different perspectives and exposed me to new ideas, cultures, and lives. It helped me realize that the world was much bigger than my own experiences.

As a result of these influences, instead of immediately diving into a traditional eight-to-five job after graduation, I decided to teach abroad in Madrid, Spain, and it became one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences of my life. Living and working in a new country reinforced the value of stepping outside my comfort zone which I consider to be a crucial part of personal growth. Embracing new challenges is something I encourage everyone, especially young women, to do as we navigate societal expectations and the pressure to check off those boxes. During my two years in Spain, I worked at a bilingual high school teaching English, traveled nearly every weekend, and visited around ten new countries.

I explored with friends and sometimes on my own, and most importantly, met new people and gained new ways of thinking. Breaking away from the traditional post-college trajectory made me realize that fulfillment doesn’t come from checking boxes—it comes from choosing experiences that challenge and inspire you as well as the importance of surrounding oneself with individuals who share similar goals and values. Now, I want to be clear—this drastic move was not an easy one. There were many moments when I felt like an outsider, uncertain and overwhelmed. But in a way, that discomfort was freeing. I knew that these moments wouldn’t come around again, and I wanted to make the most of them. The way in which I combatted these feelings of uncertainty and vulnerability were to say yes to new experiences and trust those around me.

Thus, my advice to young people, especially young women is this: do not be afraid to seek new opportunities. While physical travel might not always be possible, literature and reading in general can provide windows into different worlds, voices, and experiences. Both can help with broadening perspectives, challenging assumptions, thinking critically, and carving out one’s own path and not feeling as if life is simply a race to check the boxes placed before us but one we choose for ourselves.