Navigating your twenties with no regrets

You start your twenties and for the first ever there is no one telling you what your next step is. There has always been some form of natural progression: you start school and work your way through primary school and then hit high school. Your teenage years are full of mood swings, high school dramas, exams, a lot of house parties, tragic outfit choices and, of course, all the relationships and friendships in between. You then either face college or sixth form with many of us guided onto university or another qualification after that.

You blink and then all of a sudden that natural progression sort of stops and you are given complete freedom. You are told the world is your oyster and you’re kind of left in this weird limbo phase to figure it all out by yourself.

Below, we highlight 5 things to remember to enjoy your twenties with no regrets

1. Let go of what you think of ‘success’

What no one tells us, is there is no set timescale and you are left wondering at which point you’re considered successful. Is it when you have bought your own house, travelled halfway across the globe, or when you have landed your first 9-5 professional job? The truth is there is no right or wrong answer here. What defines success, is what you think it’s successful.

2. Everyone is on a different timeline

Often we find ourselves comparing our timescales with everyone else’s or we fear that if we don’t travel the world, buy a house, get married and have a baby in our twenties, then we have simply missed out. FOMO is a real thing and I don’t just mean missing out on a night with the girls!

Don’t pressure yourself to achieve what others have because of FOMO. You’ll get there on your own time.

3. Remove the pressure from yourself

You will always hear ‘My twenties were the best years of my life’ and ‘Don’t take your twenties for granted’. Then suddenly you have this huge pressure to tick everything off your bucket list in the space of 10 years! When actually, your twenties are all about just figuring out what it is you want and that will almost inevitably change as you continue to grow. Different relationships and friendships develop, and your priorities change often weekly and that is completely okay!

4. Don’t be scared to fail

Don’t tell yourself you can’t apply for that job because you don’t have a degree or that you can’t start your own business because you’re scared it will fail. Some of us are working in our dream jobs, while others have no idea what we want to do. You don’t have to have a savings account for your first house if you have no idea where you want to live, or you want to live out of a suitcase with a plane ticket in hand. If you find yourself asking ‘but what if’ then do it, whatever it is.

5. Stop comparing

Some of our biggest internal battles can be overwhelming. It’s so easy to scroll through social media and see everyone else’s highlight reel, that we frustrate ourselves even more. When in reality, we need to stop, take a step back check in with ourselves and realise we are all on our own journey with our own timescale and actually we’re doing pretty okay!

The real secret is no one has it all together all the time. We’re all just winging it!

FOMO is real but remember you can’t do everything. You are not the only one feeling it plus your twenties is only 10 years of your life, who says everything has to be done in your twenties anyway?

If everything was ticked off our bucket list by the time we hit 30 where would the fun be in that?