I recently turned twenty five and got to thinking about how much my life and responsibilities have changed, even in the last couple of years! I thought it might be fun to put together a light hearted list of all the things to expect in your mid twenties (from someone in their mid twenties)…
1) You start thinking more about the future – the care free ‘whatever happens’ teenager you once wear might just become a little more organised in terms of planning and making things happen. You start thinking more about all the places you want to travel, what you want to achieve, and realise that you might have to start figuring out a way to make those things happen. Working, saving, and having things to look forward to becomes more of a priority…
2) If you’re lucky, you might start to view your failures as successes – whether it’s jobs you didn’t get or relationships that didn’t work, anything that you beat yourself up over for months suddenly looks a lot sweeter as the years go by. Retrospect is a beauty, and everything does get easier with time. You might start to realise that where you are now wouldn’t be a reality had those seemingly earth shattering moments never reared their heads…
3) You start wondering if you’re becoming a loner with no social life – slight exaggeration perhaps, but seriously, work tends to take over, friends move away for work or start new jobs, and you might lose touch. People generally grow up and grow apart, you find yourself having to make a little more effort to make plans and stick to them, but this is always worth it for the people that matter…
4) You start having to deal with things you’d always overhear you parents moan about – rent, bills, council tax, the list becomes endless. I recently found myself sat at home on a Friday evening scrolling through hoovers on Amazon because ours had broken. Is this peak adulthood? I thought to myself…
5) A quarter life crisis can happen at any time – ahh the classic who am I? How the hell did I end up here? Yep, this voice will run riot, and the only thing you can do is remind yourself that it’s okay not to not have all our shit figured out. Some of the most interesting people never really do – we just have to be true to ourselves and follow what makes us happy. Even if that seems to change every week…
6) Hangovers become worse and nights in become the new nights out – I remember the days I used to live for the weekends and Friday/Saturday nights. Getting dressed up, meeting up with friends, dancing till the early hours of the morning and waking up with a manageable level of hangover. Now it seems that I can’t have more than three drinks without being a write off the next day – hangovers catch up with most of us, and these days, I honestly love having date nights and going to the cinema just as much as I loved going out back then. Priorities change, especially when I find myself needing to be productive on the weekends…
7) People around you start getting engaged, some even get married – this makes you wonder whether you should be doing the same. The answer is no – just do you. Don’t let any kind of societal pressure dictate how healthy or normal your relationship is, happiness should always be the main concern. The first question I always get when I mention Sam and I have been together for seven years is normally marriage related. In all honesty, one day we would love to, but right now, there’s too many other things we would rather spend all that money on…
8) You’re guaranteed to hate your job at some point – but don’t let it discourage you, it happens to most of us at some point! Whether it’s a painful retail job, an internship that’s testing your patience, or a boss to rival Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada – remind yourself that nothing is permanent, and one day all these experiences will be useful to you. Trust me, even some of the most embarrassing/soul destroying situations have ended up teaching me so much…
9) You’ll have your heart broken a few times – whether it’s in a romantic way, or someone letting you down in a way that you never thought they would. People prove you wrong and all kinds of relationships involve work, but I promise you that the right people will always stick around. You might start to realise that love is a commitment and not just a feeling like you thought when you were sixteen, it’s not always perfect, but it’s definitely worth keeping your heart open for…
10) You’ll battle with yourself relentlessly – the hardest part about your twenties is ultimately discovering out who you are and what you stand for as a person, and at times it will be bloody hard! It’s also really rewarding when things fall into place…
I hope you enjoyed this post as always! Obviously these things will differ from person to person, some will even experience them much earlier on in life, or even much later on. I had fun putting this together and would love to hear if you have any twenties related woes/scenarios that I may have missed out…
Alice x
Photography by Adriana
Blouse – Mango | Jeans – Vintage Wrangler (similar here) | Shoes – ALDO | Bag c/o – WoodGrey
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I loved this post Alice! I thought number 1 was interesting to read because I found very recently (I am 26) that I actually became a little more care-free. But, being the huge worry-wart that I am, I recently kind of just let go of that. I now have more of a ‘what will be, will be’ mindset. It’s interesting how these mindsets change when we’re in our twenties.
Have also just seen that you have started a YT channel and very excited about this! I think you would add something a little different to YT – something that’s currently missing. So am very much looking forward to that.
x
Thank you! Means a lot to have encouragement like this as I have no idea what kinds of videos I’ll be making – quite excited for a new challenge though 🙂 xx
Oh my, every single one of these is SO true and I can relate to them 100%! Thank you for writing this post, it was a great read.
https://lartoffashion.com
This post spoke to me on soooo many levels *applauds*
Honestly loved it!
Elisha-Mae | http://www.elisha-mae.co.uk
Thank you! xx
Perfect bag <3
This post is on point. I love your style and your advice. It’s exactly how I’m feeling right now. Thanks so much for sharing this with the world, it was just what I needed to read today! Excited to see and read more 🙂
Thank you! Comments like this mean the world 🙂 xx
This post is so interesting – I think I’ve already had about 6 quarter-life crisis’s already, even though I’m only 19 haha! xxx
Haha, I feel like everyone has to grow up too quickly these days – particularly women! xxx
Really needed to read this post at the moment, I’m 23 at the moment but I feel like I’ve already hit my bloody quarter life crisis because I’m changing career directions and it’s just like what the hell am I doing with my life and also where did all my friends go because I suddenly am way to much of a solo act if you know what I mean, haha
Julia // The Sunday Mode
Honestly it’s completely normal! Two of my best friends moved to the other side of the world and I was working jobs that made me unhappy for years – things get better I promise! Sometimes we have to do things that make us a bit uncomfortable in order to get there though – reaching out to new people/connecting with new people, and maybe starting to look at new jobs? xxx