Growing up, I used to ride home from swim practice in White Plains, NY, back to Connecticut. Billy Joel was a regular on those drives, and Vienna quickly became my favorite song of his. I’ve never been big on lyrics—I’ve always connected more with the beat. But recently, I finally sat down and read the words, and it hit me in a completely different way.

As I read the lyrics, I realized how much this song reflects where I am in life right now—and probably where a lot of other young adults are too.

My favorite lines from Vienna:

“Slow down, you’re doin’ fine. You can’t be everything you want to be before your time.”

“Though you can see where you’re wrong, you know you can’t always see when you’re right.”

“When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?”

Let’s unpack them one by one.

“Slow down, you’re doin’ fine…”

This one hits hard. Young adults are constantly bombarded with social media reminders that we’re not moving fast enough, achieving enough, doing enough. The pressure to keep up with how other people “appear” to be doing is exhausting.

For me, it’s the part about trying to be everything at once that really stands out. Someone once told me the people who are most fulfilled are those who can live with uncertainty. And early adulthood is full of it—figuring out bills, relationships, jobs, identity. You turn 24 and realize you’re closer to 30 than to 18. Time speeds up, and you start thinking, “If I just figure everything out now, then I can finally relax.”

But like Billy Joel says, life doesn’t work that way. Growth takes time.

So the better question is: How much uncertainty can you live with? If we spend our 20s thinking, “Once I have this, then I’ll be happy,” we might get there and still feel unsettled—asking, “Is this all that there is?”

“Though you can see where you’re wrong…”

This one’s about how quick we are to see our flaws and how slow we can be to acknowledge our strengths. If success becomes the bare minimum and failure becomes a crisis, how can we ever enjoy anything?

It often feels like we live in extremes: either we’re crushing it or we’re not enough. I’ve had those thoughts too.

What I’ve learned is to stop viewing life as winning or losing. It’s winning—or delayed winning. Growth often comes wrapped in setbacks. And if you treat those setbacks as lessons, you haven’t really lost anything.

“When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?”

This one made me pause. I wasn’t exactly sure what “Vienna” meant, so I looked into it.

Turns out, Vienna is more than just a place—it’s a metaphor for patience, balance, and fulfillment. It reminds us that life isn’t a race to be won all at once, and that working hard doesn’t mean rushing. The life you want will be there when the time is right.

When you’re young, it’s tempting to chase a moment where everything feels figured out. But talk to someone in their 60s or 70s, and they’ll tell you: uncertainty never fully goes away—it just evolves.

So to any young adults reading this:

You don’t need to have it all figured out.

Celebrate your wins.

Learn from your losses.

Vienna will still be there—just don’t miss it by hurrying through everything.

Billy Joel packed a lot into this song. I’ll break down some of the other lines in a future post. Until next time.