The Roaring Mid-Twenties

You know what they don’t teach you in school? How to get through a quarter-life crisis in your twenties. So many years of education and nobody taught us how to survive our self-doubt, feelings of entrapment and anxious thoughts.  Basically part of real life, right? 

As a twenties something girl, l can assure you right now that the struggle is real for our generation. It’s a confusing time for all. Many trials and tribulations within our minds, confused identity, misguided paths and life transitions that can make us feel lost, anxious and worried. 

But some would say, the struggle is just a part of life, right? The struggle is supposed to be good for us because it makes us who we are. As we crawl closer to our thirties, there’s this realization  that we’re in the most defining decade of our lives. Our identities have never been so sure, but so complex. 

We are soul searching but self- destructing.

We want love but we are afraid of commitment.

We want dream jobs but we are impatient. 

We run as far away from responsibilities, but we want to be taken seriously. 

We question whether we are on the right path yet we are misguided by our own beliefs. 

We are all a little lost

But guess what, you are not alone 

Adulthood is hard lol. And in the age of social media, our reels are filled with fancy pictures of nice lifestyles. 

Naturally, all we see is a highlight reel, creating the illusion that everyone has perfectly positive, fun and exciting lives. This selective story telling can lead to a false perspective of reality where everyone appears to be living their best life. This often leads to thoughts that one’s life may seem less spectacular. Within this curated world of social media, relationships and the challenges they bring become an integral part of the narrative in our twenties. It’s a period when relationships take centre stage, as young adults battle with the uncharted terrain of love, identity and the sensation of being lost in their own maze of emotions. 

It is easy to believe everyone around you is living their best life, especially when social media is saturated with ‘picture perfect’ images. The truth is your twenties are the years of self-discovery. This often involves navigating the complexities of life,  relationships, from confusion and heartbreak to the search for the right person and the quest to understand what we truly want. Social media does not show this level of personal growth that happens behind the scenes and can leave us feeling lost and isolated due to the constant comparison. 

The twenties may very well be the most confusing decade of life because there is no “set path”. Unlike earlier years that are marked by clear coming of age moments and rights of passage, the twenties seem like a wide-open field of possibilities. 

Instead of comparing yourself to others, you should use them as an example of how far you’ve come. What if instead of thinking about how much more successful the other person is, you thought about how much more successful than you were yesterday? It will help you focus on being more and better than the person each day.

When we focus on our unique strengths and abilities in any given situation, we have more energy to become even better versions of ourselves than we already are. 

Nobody is good at life. We are all learning.