What was your life like when you were 24?

[OkSoqhateo]

The title says it all. Were you living with your parents still? What was your job like? What did your social life consist of?

Had been married a few months to partner of 5 years whom I met in 2nd year of uni (still mostly happily married now).

Living in our second apartment we had together in a converted Victorian townhouse - still one of the nicest places I've ever lived. It was on a tree lined square with a small chapel in the middle. This was close to my home town and not where we went to Uni.

I was in my first role as a trade marketing executive at a small national retailer after having completed their yr long graduate introductory training there the year earlier.

I socialised with my childhood best friend - we were generally into what is now called the indie sleaze scene. There was a lot of side fringes and shopping at Urban Outfitters and going to gigs and bar/clubs in a northern city.

I also socialised quite heavily with the people I worked with. The marketing team was a big team with lots of sub divisions and a lot of young people so we all went out together a lot.

It was a really nice time actually.

Living in a shared flat in a city with a friend, working for a company that employed lots of younger people from all over the world so social life, going to pubs, clubs and eating out was amazing. Had the opportunity to travel a lot and had some great experiences and adventures.

I was living with friends and saving for my first place (which I bought at 25). I went to American with family on holiday and Paris with friends.

Career was taking off.

i was very happy, still am😊

2005

Started out in a London flatshare. Got together with now-DH and moved into a flat together

Changed job from one I loved with a fantastic bunch of colleagues I'm still friends with now, to one I didn't enjoy and had few friends at but it paid a lot more.

Lots of gigs, festivals, house parties, cheap Easyjet/RyanAir city breaks.

A brilliant year!

Thanks for this @MJconfessions I think DS is apprehensive to solo travel and would initially love a short Europe trip with his mates.

They did an Edinburgh trip in July and loved it.

As for dating, he is active on social media and does socialise a decent amount.

Married with 2 kids and maxed out on a mortgage for our “forever” home. Good job, great wage… lots of weekend city breaks with my best friend. Best of both worlds! (Also, a size 8 but thought I was fat at the time haha!)

I was married with a baby. Had a full time admin job. Pretty much no social life due to Dd being so young.

Your ds should definitely get travelling next year. My Dd is now 23yo and goes off all over the place staying in hostels. She normally goes on her own but the good thing about hostels is you meet people and hang out with them doing stuff. She actually met her current bf in a hostel in Vienna last year.

Not great. I had incredibly bad mental health issues and struggled to function. I was with DH and we were happy but the terrible anxiety I had affected my social life, work etc etc. We were living in a friends house while he travelled which wasn't in a great area. We were also in a huge amount of debt. Life got a lot better after 25 when I got pregnant with DD and we moved to a nice flat and focussed on our futures. It took quite some time to get past the anxiety issues (another 10 years) but I really enjoyed being a mum and that got me through. Life in my 30s and 40s has been so much better than my early 20s.

At 24 I was midway through a PhD, just been married and living in a little rental house in my uni city. It was a fun time, mostly. Constant fear of being skint though! I did learn to drive but couldn't afford a car.

Lush! Married, pregnant, owned a flat. 10 years ago now! Worked in a deli and lived off DH’s wage, literally the best!

I think DS is apprehensive to solo travel and would initially love a short Europe trip with his mates.

I get this…..and while he’d have fun probably would his mates be up for a holiday that he wants? Does he just want to go with his mates and drink beer in the sun? Or does he want to do sightseeing and potentially meet people? If it’s the latter and that’s not what his mates want he might need to be brave and go on his own? Honestly DD’s Instagram is full of pictures of her on nights out and sightseeing with people she’s only just met….many of whom she’s kept in touch with. When she went to Vienna she was only meant to be there for a long weekend but ended up heading off to Bratislava and beyond with people she’d just met.

Finishing off PGCE/first year of teaching
Passed driving test that summer and bought first car
Bought 2 bed semi starter house with DH (26) (who I married that summer too - we met at uni)
Social life pretty bleak as relatively new area - just knew neighbours/people from PGCE/colleagues (most a lot older) but we worked a lot (DH junior doctor and me first year of teaching secondary) so not that bothered by it

[got divorced at 29/30, moved to the other end of the country and met current DH (now of 21 years) then]

@RadFs I left for many years then returned, so yes. The hours are better now.

I had emigrated the previous year. Living in a shared flat with two friends, in the early stages of relationship with now DH. I was working part time in a café (I didn't like it but I liked my coworkers and it was enough to pay my share of the rent) and doing a Master's degree. Lots of parties and hiking trips with friends.

I'd have hated to still be living with my parents in the place I grew up. Early 20s was a time of growth and spreading my wings. Staying still would have been suffocating I think.

Started working as a teacher aged 22, had bought a house with my now dh by 24. We were doing it up.

I was working in a low paid arts admin job (it was interesting and often fun though). I house shared with two other girls, one of whom I'm still in touch with nearly 30 years later.

Marriage and kids couldn't have been further from my mind but I was to meet now-DH within the year.

I was about 200 miles from where I grew up (I didn't like where I grew up). Guess where I live now!

Living with parents, graduated into the 1991 recession, working as a waiter before minimum wage was a thing. I had done this and other temp work to save to travel, travelled and returned with no money so was planning to do the same again. Enjoying life with friends but really unsure about of what to do career wise or how to escape my shit prospects.
I then did a CELTA course not long afterwards to continue to experience life overseas but to also earn as I did it. I thought it might be something for a few years. I ended up liking it and I’ve been doing it now since 1994. I live back in the UK now. It wouldn’t be possible to predict this would have been a possible career path when I started. I’ve been very fortunate. At 24 my prospects didn’t look good at all.

When I was 24 I sort of coasted into a relationship with a "friend" who had always been a shoulder to cry on / drinking buddy / someone I could call on when I was at a loose end. I actually remember saying to him, before we slept together for the first time, "let's get the sex out of the way" - the writing was on the wall really.

He wasn't a bad guy per se but he was madly in love with me and I just never felt the same passion. He turned out to be possessive, jealous, petty, needy and used to ruin any occasion I wasn't with him with emotional blackmail. I become more and more unhappy. My 24th year was spent trying to convince myself he was 'the one' (25th and 26th year were pretty much the same but his behaviour escalated. My 27th year was much better as I left him and moved back home)

So yeah I was basically embarking on a painful, toxic and emotionally abusive 3 year relationship when I was 24!!

DC were almost 3 and a few months old. I was saving for a mortgage but lived with my dp in our HA home. Working my way up at work, but was on maternity leave. This was around the time I realised how badly my disability was going to impact my life.

Had been married for 4 years, good jobs, own house.

But bored. We finally split up 4 years later.

Have a far more exciting life in my 60s than I did in my 20s!!

Living with friends in a big city, working for a luxury brand for pittance pay. Sometimes doing ski season work. Hoping my on off boyfriend that I loved and was obsessed with would end up proposing and being the one. He didn’t. I was heartbroken.

Mortgage on a detached house, engaged, working as cabin crew for an airline with 747-200's (incase anyone is an airline geek), traveling the world and having a ball.

I was married, had my second baby 11 months after my first one just after my 24th birthday. Fortunately both were super chilled babies and I thoroughly enjoyed that time. Reasonably happy but (now ex and also late DH) worked all the hours so our relationship suffered a bit and never really got back on track.

Had another baby 2 years later and trundled along but we both rather maturely realised that we didn't want to spend the rest of our lives together so divorced. We did however remain great friends until he died when the kids were 14, 16 & 17. Don't regret a thing, he was a huge part of who am 36 years from when we first met.

I have 3 grandchildren now and am sad that he never had that. He'd have been an amazing grandfather, he really would and that makes me teary at times.

Well-paid job in Barcelona, living a great life with long-term boyfriend (now DH).
It was about ten years before Barcelona went to shit! I try and avoid it now, or stick to Gracia.