I used to be totally guilty of this so a Huffington Post article my girlfriends shared on Twitter this morning (20-something does NOT have to be 20-everything) really struck a chord with me. And I’m not even 20-something. I’m 32! But the crux of this article isn’t so much about being 20-something but about putting too much pressure on ourselves to do certain things by a certain time because we feel we should (and thinking we’re a failure when we don’t), and worrying too much about what other people think. I thoroughly recommend you read it.
When I was in my 20s I felt like I had to tick off absolutely everything by a certain age, and the younger I did it, the more of an achievement it would be. I got my first newspaper reporter job at 17 (and agonised over the fact I decided not to go to university in order to take it), got engaged at 24, bought a house at 25, edited my first magazine at 26. That year I also split up with my then-fiance. And one of the biggest things I remember thinking was WHAT WILL EVERYONE THINK? I thought I’d be married and have had my first child by 28. It seemed a good age to have done that kind of thing. But at 26 I was single and selling my home. That hurt.