Is it About Surviving Your Twenties or Surviving the Changes in Life?

Let’s face it, there is more hard work in life than our young teenager selves thought possible. We thought we were going to have life figured out, we sure thought we did at the time. We knew where we wanted to go to school, what career path we wanted to take and what the house we were going own would look like; all by the time, we were twenty-five.

For most of us, that’s not the case, and our twenties have become some of the hardest years we have ever experienced…up to date. It’s funny. I remember hearing people say that the time they would want to experience again is their twenties, definitely not their adolescence, not their thirties, but their twenties. And for that, I wonder… did they forget the uncertainty of whether they were going to keep their job or be able to pay rent? The battle between working and living? Having no social life. People pressuring them to have a baby, when they were still trying to figure out how to take care of themselves. Trying to stay in shape, but still, be up and out the door before seven in the morning. And feeling the pressure of being the last one to leave, for a job they don’t even know if they want…but everyone is expecting them to screw up, so they have to prove them wrong… even if that means being miserable? Or are these the best years and hurricane thirty has a whirlwind up her sleeve?

I have a theory.

Your twenties is another learning curve, not an easy decade, there will never be an easy decade, it’s always just different situations, different elements, different components and different drawbacks. A learning experience nonetheless, and a series of obstacles to cross. The world is obsessed with age and definitely partakes in agism; which tears people down, rather than building them up. Even a simple “I remember that struggle, that part will get better” is better than making someone feel like an idiot because they are struggling.

But about when it comes to our twenties…

Things that get associated with twenty-year-olds is that our metabolism is faster, and we can drink. Maybe we can even drink a forty-year-old man under the table; but did anyone ever stop and think there was a reason that the woman in her twenties could drink so much already?

In the twenty-first century, alcohol and drugs become a huge factor in how someone in their twenties survives the anxieties, the pressure, and the loneliness of the era that we are living in. What has caused a spike in anxiety? Social media plays a large role. Even just ten years ago, we weren’t getting exposed to as much horror and terror that happens in the world, and the human brain has a hard time processing all that emotion in a short period of time. Is it a good thing that we are more aware of what is happening in the world? Absolutely. But we still have to acknowledge that there are moments where we may need to take a step back because our emotions are becoming over-stimulated, and the over-stimulation… it causes forms of anxiety and depression because our brain doesn’t know what to do. In addition, in our twenties, we are just learning to understand everything that is happening, so we can’t just ignore it because we don’t know history or geography, we can’t turn it off because we don’t understand politics, we very much do, and our body becomes so full of emotions, that the majority of people in their twenties need to find an escape, a way out, a hatchet to release some of the anxious pressure they are feeling, but they can’t. So they find a way to forget it or become numb to it. That’s what it is like to be in your twenties in this era, in this century. So the young woman who can drink the forty-year-old man under the table, we can’t just say it is because she is young, there is a lot more going on than that now.

This bears the question… is it really about surviving your twenties, or surviving changes in your life? Read the tips below and come up with your own conclusion.

1. Don’t Be the Last Car in the Parking Lot

We have all been there. Starting out in a new job and feel the need to be the last one in the parking lot, or in the office, every night. That isn’t going to help you. That is going to make you burnout a lot faster.

If you don’t have work to get done, and you are aimlessly looking at your computer screen until the last person leaves the office so you can go, or you have piled so much on your desk that you don’t even notice the last person leave; you are not building yourself up, but you are tearing yourself apart. You will feel overwhelmed. You will feel exhausted. You will lose parts of your life that are important for you to live.

2. Find What You Are Passionate About

Passion is your drive. Sometimes it takes a long time to figure out what you are passionate about. Sometimes you may be using something as an outlet for your emotions and it turns into this fire that is burning up in your soul. Your passion will get you through some of your hardest days.

3. Take Care of Yourself

Eat your vegetables. Make proper meals. Exercise. Get some sleep. Don’t wear your body down, take care of the vessel that gets you up every day. If you are exhausted, and your exhaustion takes over your life, you will become crankier, you will be moody and you will not feel like yourself anymore.

4. Work Hard

Remember that your work ethic isn’t about how much you can please somebody else, it’s how you can please yourself. Your work ethic is about hard work, but not about strain; find the divide, learn the balance, but always strive to be the best version of yourself that you can be.

5. Understand Your Value

You are not just another person on this planet, an ant to the universe. Sometimes you may feel that way, but lie to yourself, tell yourself otherwise, because eventually you will believe it and you will see the beauty that everyone else sees.

When we see the value that we bring to the world every day, we start to appreciate what we can bring, and we have our own back.

6. Don’t Accept Agism

Whether you are being tormented because you are the new one, or the young one, or the old one; don’t accept it as a joke and move on. When people cause you to feel like you do not belong in a particular environment because of your age or status, that is not okay. What you can bring to the table has nothing to do with how old you are, but how valuable you are.

7. Be Social

Socialize. Even if it is a night out with friends one day a month. Socialization is an important component that keeps human beings centred and grounded. If we take socialization out of the picture, because we “don’t need it right now” or “don’t have time”; we are taking away an important component for our mental health. It doesn’t have to be every week, but a handful of times in order to ground yourself.

8. Read

It sound foolish, but read. Reading not only keeps you in the loop of all the current events that are going on, but it can also open your imagination, and creative side. By opening up this creative side in your brain, you will begin to feel at ease, and find the vibe that suits you best.

9. Journal

Human beings have a lot of feelings and sometimes we can’t get them all out in one therapy session. Have a journal on the go that allows you to do exercises that opens the mind and vent out some built up frustrations.

10. Partake in Self-Care

Self-care doesn’t have to be going to the spa and getting a massage. Self-care is doing something that makes you feel joy. If that means going for a hike, a workout, a run, reading, etc.

What makes you feel joy?

Do it.