Are you in your 20s feeling lost, confused, overwhelmed, happy and depressed all at the same time? Welcome to the club, my friend. This is the brutal but honest truth about life in your 20s.
Why should you listen to me? Well, I’m on the brink of 25 and I have experienced all the above. So far, my 20s have been riddled with the anxiety of uncertainty. Your 20s can be very challenging because comparison becomes your best friend. How familiar do these sound: “I’ll never be able to get the car my friend has”; “Someone my age has just bought their first house? I must be so behind. What am I doing wrong?”; or “My best friend is getting married and I’ve never even been in a relationship. There’s no hope for me”? I have a good feeling you know what I’m talking about here. Read on.
Your confidence is tattered, you’re lost and you feel like you’re barely keeping your head above water – it’s brutal. Do you want the honest truth? It’s perfectly normal.
People used to say to me that your 20s should be the best time of your life – I disagree. They might be and they might not be; it’s not that simple.
We are all dealt different cards and we all experience different things that shape who we are. Some of us find our perfect career at 21, others don’t find it until they are 45. Some of us find the man or woman we want to marry by 26, others don’t find that until they are 50.
My point is it’s okay to feel the way you’re feeling. However, it’s not okay to feel like something is wrong with you because you haven’t achieved what you wanted by now.
I’m currently seeing a therapist to work on the way I feel about and deal with things. She has helped me recognise that my mindset is always geared towards “I NEED to have this” or “This MUST happen.” She tells me to change my mindset to: “I would PREFER this to happen, but I acknowledge that it may or may not, and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean there is something wrong with me.” The brutal but honest truth? It’s not that simple – it takes time.
It’s perfectly normal to feel lost and confused. None of us really know what we’re doing. That’s the brutal but honest truth about life in your 20s.