I got engaged when I was 20. I’ll be married at 22, and, according to social media, I’ll have successfully ruined my entire life by the time I’m 23.

For the past few weeks, there has been an article floating around on various social media sites called, “23 Things to Do Instead of Getting Engaged Before You’re 23.” It’s a pretty decent read — full of information encouraging young women to “seize the day” as they chase down that fabulous, independent and fruitful lifestyle we all so desperately hope to achieve after college.

 Obviously, there’s a strong message that any young woman who gets married before the age of 23 has managed to completely and utterly screw up her life.

According to the article, marriage is a trap full of responsibilities to another that will distract anyone from reaching their fullest potentials and fulfilling their wildest dreams. The article claims the rush for young people to get married is a result of a “want” to have a gorgeous, fairy tale wedding.

It’s true my generation has a tendency to demand instant gratification and because of that many couples go through divorces years later — the statistics are there. But it was the author’s “suggestions” for a fuller life and the amount of friends who responded to them that irked me more.

According to the article, marriage will prevent me from attaining a passport, completing a Pinterest project, adopting a pet and will, ultimately, ensure that my 20s be the dullest decade of my entire life.

As I sat pondering the article with my cat in my lap, I looked up at photos of my fiancé Payton and I in China and the Dominican Republic. I thought about how many Pinterest projects I had actually completed and needed to complete (one completed) and then wondered why things like “eating a jar of Nutella in one sitting” and “joining the Peace Corps” (17 and 14) had to be completed in my 20s.

Then, I wondered why it was so imperative that social media sites like Buzzfeed and Pinterest had to give me a countdown so I could measure my own self-worth.

Thanks to smart phones, computers, iPads, Kindles and pretty much anything with a WiFi connection, social media has been allowed to take center stage in our lives. As a result, we’ve become a generation set on comparing ourselves to others. We have singlehandedly allowed social media to set the standard for a glorious, exciting life when we should be the ones deciding what our lives should be.

Social media tells me I should eat an entire jar of Nutella in one sitting and that I shouldn’t get married before I’m 23 (or ever for that matter). I’m not letting social media dictate what I can and cannot do.

The only one getting in the way of my wildly exciting, blissfully happy and adventerous dream life is me.

I’m going to plan, save and work for that life to make it happen. No one else can do that for me, and social media certainly isn’t going to tell me I can’t do it.