New Jersey – If you had to taste one flavor for the rest of your life, regardless of what you ate, which flavor would it be?

The question is almost impossible to answer when you consider the myriad of options available. First, you would have to decide whether you wish to have something sweet or salty or even umami. Then you’d have to figure out which type of sweet or salty. I mean there’s candy cane sweet, potato chip salty and grilled beef umami, to name a few. Then you have to imagine the flavors you haven’t even discovered yet!

“Whatevs, Jacob,” says the young sage of inexperience. “I found the love of my life at the age of 17 and nothing can stop us.”

Ugh.

That’s like going into Baskin-Robbins every night, choosing vanilla each time and then proclaiming your love of ice cream. You don’t love ice cream. You love vanilla ice cream. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I merely like to think Plato would agree with the idea that your “love” is actually a shadow of whatever “love” is.

Undoubtedly, some of you have considered some of your favorite flavors by now, but have yet to choose which will be with you forever. Romantic relationships can be thought of in the same way. Each of the 7.8 billion people alive right now have a different point of view, styles or unique flavors to offer. Much like flavors, people are complex and full of subtle notes you can’t honestly describe. Yet, with every new taste you encounter, your list of likes and dislikes expands, and your preferences become a bit clearer.

Maybe someone reading this has already decided on a taste and is content with their choice. I see it every day on campus in the form of couples who have been together since high school. I hear it in conversations between desperate 20-something-year-olds who gush over settling down and having babies before turning 27. Whenever I am around these people and discussions, I am forced to ask a question that is always answered with a quizzical look: What the hell is wrong with you?

Being in your 20s is a privilege of time for uncovering talents, character traits and emotions that you never knew existed. Most of you can barely decide which show to binge on Netflix, yet you have the mind to make such life-altering arrangements? Maybe slowing down isn’t a bad idea, considering Psychology Today reported the ages of 28 to 32 as the prime age to wed your partner. Multiple studies have indicated a high risk of divorce in marriages that occurred between the ages of 20 and 25.

Unless you want to be the husband who daydreams of his glory days back in high school or the wife who stares a little too long at that one Starbucks barista, consider seeking advice from couples you find trustworthy. For everyone else, which flavors did you decide to keep?