CASH your reality check here!

I spend a lot of time...waste a lot of time worrying about days that I may not live to see. This recession has changed me...transformed me into a paranoid prick. I don't want to take risks anymore, don't want to explore the world. All I want to do...try to do is save for the rainy days that I now pessimistically expect. When I spend money, I feel guilty. When I eat out, I feel guilty. I have these goals that taunt me in my sleep. Save $10,000. Buy a house by December. Avoid gaining weight/lose 10 more pounds. Get a better job. Avoid losing the job you've got. Be nicer to your mother...because she's gonna have to feed/house you if you lose your job.

It's all so ridiculous, right? I'm 23 for Pete's sake. But (REALITY CHECK BEGINS HERE)...23 isn't what it used to be. I don't have the option of spending my days in Wilmington, sitting on the boardwalk and eating $4 nachos. I can't go to St. Thomas every summer like my dad did in the 1980's and party/drink for 3 months at a time. I can't live in the Bronx, pay $350 for rent and survive off of a hair dresser's salary like my mom did in the 1970's.

Why? Because it's 2010 fool. And that means that, after college, your young ass better buy a brief case and sneakers and get ready for the rat race. Don't get me wrong. I still don't do cubicles. And I refuse to drink coffee from the break room. I don't party with my co-workers and I don't wear navy blue every day. But I do...like most of us...wait on that fatt paycheck with an eager heart and wide eyes. Being 20-something is all about preparation. If you want to be 32, living in your parent's attic (the basement isn't available-your cousin already lives down there), working at Burger World, and wobbling the whole way to work on your bike...because your fat, depressed ass can't afford a car...then go ahead and party hard!

Seriously, act like you're on the show JERSEY SHORE and fist pump with the best of them every weekend in the same lame club you've been going to since high school. Don't worry about your credit score. It's just a number. And keep buying cheap shoes to impress Tyrone (who works with you at TJ Maxx). Because that's what being 20-something "should" be all about.

But, the reality check of your lifetime and mine is...nobody gives a hot damn how young we are. We're a part of a society that is indeed paranoid and preventative. We've lost a lot of the freebies that young people were once given. The mistakes/choices we make now could easily prevent us from ever retiring, owning a home, or sending our own children to college.

So, no, I don't want to spend every day thinking about days up ahead that I may never see. But I also don't want to live my life like an untouchable idiot. I've got things to do, people to influence, and a world to change...so I've got to be better than my personal best (which means-I have to reach heights I once thought were impossible). This isn't a drill people. This is the real deal, we're in the real world now. Carpe diem! Translation? GET IT TOGETHER.