...soon approaching 24? I'm just curious, because I thought I would be further along and more "established"/"grown up" in my life, but really I am just clueless and...frankly...unhappy/hopeless. I don't feel like a grown up OR independent.
I'm done with school, yeah, but Grad. School is terrifying and I'm not ready...I hate my job; I'm an office-person/secretary, though I have a BFA....I'm just really lost right now...
There is no exact place you should be at 23. Go at your own pace! You are barely an adult at that age. You are a baby adult.
At age 23 I quit my first teaching job, got myself into debt, found another part-time teaching job, met my boyfriend, and lost my virginity. By the time I was almost 24 I was looking for another full-time teaching position as I worked two part-time jobs. My career was NOT where I wanted it to be.
I had been working in my current job for a few months, loving it but struggling. I and my husabnd (then fiance) had moved back in with my grandmother to save money and cause i needed a little more support than i had.
Don't worry about where you are. Like Crys said, go at your own pace!
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
I was on maternity leave looking after my baby, not financialy secure or with a career I could go back to, thats where I still am now. I just go with the flow and be positive.
I agree 23 is young and even if you were 40 in that position you wouldn't be alone everyone's life pans out differently and very rarely as expected.
I'm 23, still live at home, am in school for a job I'll never be able to get because the field is saturated, and have no clue what I actually want as a career. I work in retail for my mediocre bills and have no way to move out on my own at this point in time.
i turn 23 in 3 days. I'm engaged, working as a casual factory hand and doing distance ed study after trying to do on campus leading to financial dramas leading to mental breakdowns. and i'm having wisdom tooth dramas (they are playing hide and seek). my mental health is now ok, and i know my triggers and support network, but i still have trouble saving money without a specific goal.
to be honest, everyone is different. there is no "normal" place to be in your life set by your age.
...I try to outsmart him, but somehow he knows,
Wherever I am, that f***ing dog goes... - Dog, Andy Bull
No matter how bad things get, the true test is how we choose to respond to the pain we suffer, or inflict. - Amenadiel, Lucifer
Why is the path unclear,
When we know hope is near
Understand we'll go hand in hand, but we'll walk alone in fear
~~Margo is my penguin 🐧!!! ~~
I graduated from Uni and was about to move to Dubai
Im now 25 and am still not where I want to be but one day I will have it ad yep :)
When we lose twenty pounds... we may be losing the twenty best pounds we have! We may be losing the pounds that contain our genius, our humanity, our love and honesty. ~Woody Allen
Is a chocolate muffin loving glitter ball
I'm 23 now. I have a baby and a fiancee. That's the good bits! I'm on 3 types of medication and still harm. Hmmmm not where I planned to be at 23 but hey ho!
Don't panic if things aren't how you want them to be, you've got plenty of time left, and to be honest, life doesn't go to plan. Ever!
Just take one day at a time, enjoy the good bits and don't cling to the bad bits.
I had come home from uni a couple of years previously, and at 23 moved out into my own flat.
I had 2 cats, one was pregnant, I had a **** job that I hated, which caused me so much stress I think as soon as 1 wound began to heal I had another.
I was in the depths of despair, I had no money, a degree in history and archaeology but no prospects (or I was being told by everyone I trusted that I had no prospects) and thought I was going to be in the same crappy circumstance for the rest of my life.
It took a while, but I managed to pull myself out of it. I left that crappy job (it took a few years - and I loved telling the people who told me I could do nothing else that I actually got a new, better job and they hadn't), got out of there, away from the people causing me problems. Got some confidence, which has done a lot more for me than anything else.
I am now 36, I still have dark times (like now actually), I still live in the same flat, I am still crap with money. But I have a job I love, something I have always wanted to do, and I feel better about myself. The people who told me I was worth nothing have been shown, by me, how wrong they were.
I was not the same as my twin sister at the time, she had just gotten married and was the apple of my parent's eye.
Her life has gone in a different direction to mine, she has 75% of my DNA, but she is different to me in a lot of ways.
Your life has barely begun, you are a baby adult, as has been said, and you can't judge yourself against anyone else. You are not the same as anyone else, and your life will take it's own direction.
Take care, and hope you feel better
Loz x
You don't have to be a monkey to recognize a banana!
Wow, 23 going on 24 was only a little over a year ago for me. I had just taken a year off from school after graduating and worked my butt off- a full time job and a part time one as well. I knew they were just "placeholder" jobs, which wouldn't end up being my career (hopefully). I started grad school and still liked my particular program then. I still like grad school, but I'm realizing I need to be somewhere else to really do what I want to do. I was doing pretty well mentally at the time... had recovered from depression enough to go on a few dates here and there, but no one steady. No kids or spouse or career though.
Who can attest that when they're at their best
Oh their worst is still crouching close behind
It's coming to peace with the darkness in me
That allows the true light to shine inside "Ups and Downs" ~ Kendall Payne
Thanks for the replies...I just feel so lost and frustrated. I know I shouldn't compare, but when my brother was done with school, he had a a paying internship with an engineering company, followed by a job at the University we both attended. My field (arts) is not like that and our department doesn't have the money to hire former students, just graduate students...
I think my parents still expect things to turn out for me like they did him, despite the fact that I've told them countless times otherwise.
It just seems like it's not going to get better and I'm not going to find something or somewhere I love.......
I'm 28 and I still don't know where I'm going, I thought I did but I don't. At 23 I was travelling the world having finished University and hadn't a clue where I was heading in life or what I wanted to do. If you want to do something then I believe you can do it, if you don't know then see where it goes :)
"I am me and me is good enough if I would only be it openly"
hmmm...at 23, i was raising my 3 year old son by myself, working at a doc's clinic(not what i had planned!!!)
i was harming, having panic attacks, nightmares, etc....
my son was my life. i supported us the best i could. at 25, i had a breakdown of sorts. i sent my son to live with relatives and he is still there. he will be 12 this year. BUT...i think it was the best for him. he has experienced so many things i could have never provided. we have always kept in touch. i know every progress report he gets from school. we are still very close.
what im trying to say is that life takes many different twists and turns. and i guess im just on for the ride.
*squishes*
xxxxxxxxxx
A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference.
I turn 24 this year. I'm married but still live with my mum. I am technically self-employed, but it's not as impressive as it sounds, as my mental health issues have closed off most other money-earning opportunities and I usually only work an hour or two a day. Most of my friends either have careers or are getting masters degrees.
You are certainly not alone.
~Michelle
I live at home with my parents at 28 , I have neither the mental health or financial health to move out , I feel like I am stuck in a rut,
I guess my point is that you are not alone and like someone said in this thread take it at your own pace . I hope this helps a little :)
At 23 I was living in a "studio" appartment the size of my foot!! - Go such good times!
I also met my wife when I was 23 - I think I still did the "where am I suppose to be" thing daily in my head til about 5 months ago just after I turned 29, then I realised (or finally it sunk in) that actually whenever I thought about it I always thought I should be somewhere else, doing other things, but that was just a waste of time, I am where I am now & I kinda love it, no point in wishing your life away....
hmmm...i was married, we had a 4 year old, and i was a stay-at-home mom. We both wanted that for our child as neither of us had much of a family.
Now, many years later, i wont say how many lol...i have had to leave my job, i am just now on early retirement cos apparently i can never work 'reliably' again.
It sucks.
I had such huge dreams of what i wanted to do....and they all fell apart.
BUT, it could be worse. I have a beautiful daughter, a best friend of a husband who supports and loves me unconditionally.
So, it could be alot worse.
romp
23 is still very young, you have loads of time left to make your dreams come true, and the one thing I have learnt about life so far is expect the unexpected,
at 23 i was married, lived in my own flat with my now ex husband, we had 1 cat, i had a degree I never used and never will use, and i had not long started my job, working with people who have learning disabilities, which pointed me towards my current job I'm now a qualified nurse, I'm 29, I have a job i love wont be there forever, Im heading towards recovery and now have 2 cats
I never imagined this is where i would be in life, but im happy and its taken alot of time and i have gone through alot of crap to get here so stick in theres hope,
I don't feel like a grown up OR independent. 
.gif "rose")
