Even if you aren’t an expert in astrology, there’s a good chance you’ve heard about Saturn returns. Saturn returns are the crisis that happens in your late-20s. Just when you’re feeling like you’re starting to figure out adulthood, everything suddenly changes.

At least, that’s what’s supposed to happen.

I started studying astrology just before my Saturn return, and when my Saturn return arrived, I was an anxious wreck. Nothing particularly horrible was happening to me. As far as I could tell, nothing in particular was happening at all, and I knew that couldn’t possibly be right. Saturn returns are supposed to be dramatic, life-changing events. How could nothing have been happening?

I went to my mentor and begged him to help me figure it out. We talked about the symbols and ways that I could work consciously to feel better about the Saturn area of my chart, but no matter what he said, I didn’t feel prepared.

Finally, he sighed and looked over his glasses at me and said, ”Just stop thinking about it. Wait until your Uranus opposition to start evaluating your Saturn return. You won’t have any idea what it meant until you’re at least 42.”

I was furious at the time, but now that I’m in my mid-30s, I’m starting to understand what he meant.

In our culture, most stories have their endings with events that happen in your 20s and 30s. You find a relationship. You find a job. You find a home. You find the person you’re supposed to be in the world, and then the story ends.

Growing up surrounded by this message, it’s easy to believe that the events that happen around the Saturn return are the end of the story.

The truth is that these changes are only the beginning of stories that will continue for years–or even the rest of your life.

Your wedding is the beginning of a marriage. Your first adult job is the beginning of your career. Your first home is the beginning of the process of putting down roots or learning to be a wanderer. The role you have in the world now will grow and change as you grow and change.

It’s like when you’re first reading Harry Potter, and you think that Quidditch game with the snitch Harry Potter almost swallowed was a humorous interlude. It’s only in the last book that you understand the significance of that snitch.

When evaluating your life, it’s only when you can look at the whole story that you can see what’s really important.

Astrology can help you tell the stories of your life with intention and purpose, but your life is full of so many twists and turns, the way the complex set of symbols in your birth chart come together can be shocking.

But what is confusing now, will be clear later. The meaning of your Saturn return will be obvious in retrospect.

So, if you are in your 20s, and you’re interested in astrology, and you’re gnawing your nails to bits worrying about your Saturn return, stop.

Saturn issues never resolve themselves with worry. Take a deep breath. Get clear about what you want, and go for it. That’s the work Saturn is asking you to do right now.

The problems you are facing now are laying the groundwork for the fantastic story you will be writing with your life over the next 30 years.

And if, like me, you think everything is fine, celebrate. This means you have done the work you need to do to live with freedom right now.

Take whatever freedom you have and run with it. Use it to build the life you want to live.