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Original poster

What were you doing half your lifetime ago?

149 replies

Bobje · 23/08/2025 06:13

I was 26, working in London, living with my sister in a very nice flat, just off Russell Square.
We both worked in media and were having the time of our lives.
Little did I know, in the following week I would meet my now DH.

OP posts:
Cinaferna · 23/08/2025 08:32

I was an actress on a long tour with a theatre company and about to go home and get married to DH! Blimey. That was half a life ago?

Betsy95 · 23/08/2025 08:34

I was 22, married, couldn’t drive and just living a fairly relaxed life…. One of the most settled content periods of my life ☺️

RosesAndHellebores · 23/08/2025 08:34

I was 32 and a half, we'd been married for about 18 months, I'd had one miscarriage and we had just moved into our family home which we had only been able to afford because the builders went bankrupt. I was still working all hours in the City and DH was still a very skint, early career barrister. We were very happy and still are. Life has been kind.

Blueuggboots · 23/08/2025 08:37

I was 6 months into a new career in the ambulance service. Living with my fiancé in a 2 bed maisonette we had bought for £38k 3 years before.

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 23/08/2025 08:38

I was in my mid twenties, living abroad and working in a job that I absolutely loved. I was about to make a very significant career move to a new job, though I didn't know it yet. I had been living with my now-DH for around a year.

It was a very happy time overall.

PermanentTemporary · 23/08/2025 08:40

I was 28, living in a flat in Chiswick with my first husband, a few months into my first NHS job, a year away from buying a house (not in Chiswick). In some ways I was very happy and felt like I was building a grown up life, but I remember being vaguely frightened a lot of the time. Nothing quite seemed as I expected it to. Given how shit my early 20s had been, it was nice to have a life that looked organised, but it was built on a relationship that didn’t work. It’s hard to remember now why on earth I married him.

GreenAndWhiteStripes · 23/08/2025 08:42

I was in my mid 20s, sharing a flat in London with a friend, dating my now DH. Working hard and playing hard. Fun times.

TubeScreamer · 23/08/2025 08:45

I was 27, just got married. Managing a bookshop in London but hating it and thinking about what to do with my life.

BobButtonsismycat · 23/08/2025 08:48

Still living at home (just about to buy our first home), in a job with great prospects which would have progressed into an enjoyable career. Travelling, out with friends all the time and enjoying every single minute of life.

Now 52 with chronic health issues, no career, caring for a parent with advanced dementia, in perimenopause and not enjoying life at all.

I tell my 20 and 17 year old to grab their young lives by the horns and drink in every moment.

PissedOffNeighbour22 · 23/08/2025 08:51

I was 20 and house hunting with my then BF and trying to find a mortgage provider who would lend to us on our low income.

Buying the house was great, but i was stuck in a shitty marriage for years with that arsehole.

ShiftySquirrel · 23/08/2025 08:53

I was 21 and engaged to my ex- fiancé.

I'd come home to my parents from a summer dig as part of my archaeology studies, and just met, and very much liked someone else. So I was in a bit of turmoil.

It took a year or two, but in the end I split from my fiance, got together with the other guy and we're still together.

MrsVinceVega · 23/08/2025 08:53

I was 25, sinhle, living in London and working as a primary school teacher.

I had plans to do one more academic year there, and then look for a role overseas. I was considering VSO or international schools.

And I did, the following August I travelled to central Europe and spent the following 8 years having a blast, first there, then in SE Asia.

Happy, exciting times, when I thought I could do anything!

itsonlyjoan · 23/08/2025 08:57

Was 18 had a baby parents kicked.me.out moved i to a private let with my bf now my husband have 5 kids now daughter is now 19 son.17 son 14 son 10 dd 9 amd 2 dogs :).

Obeseandashamed · 23/08/2025 08:57

I had just got married, started my a-levels and had a part time job.

itsonlyjoan · 23/08/2025 08:57

MrBeanMustBeMyDad · 23/08/2025 06:46

Oh I love this.
I was 17, DD was 9 months old, I was being chucked out by my mum. Literally to the week. I moved into a scary flat (I'm sure I got the keys on 21st/22nd or 23rd of Aug) and I was on the absolute bones of my arse. Life was hard, and also scary.

Being able to look back shows me that actually I've come such a far way in those years. I wanted to turn the tables around for DD and I, and I did.

I.was kicked out aswell.i think she was 13 months old

travelallthetime · 23/08/2025 08:58

22, started my first job in travel (still in travel), had met my now husband 9 months ago as we were living together, having a great time. To be honest, the only things that have changed is that we are now married, in a bigger house, a very successful business and 2 children

Friendlygingercat · 23/08/2025 09:06

I was in my early 40s just beginning as a mature student at uni. Huge cultural shock. My first career had come to a plateau due to structural changes within the profession. So I felt the need to do a degree. I went on to do a Masters and Ph.D and become an academic.

IAmComfortablyNumbed · 23/08/2025 09:07

I was 26. We were just married and buying our first home, looking forward to our future together.
We were together over half my life and I’ve recently been widowed, now I’m not sure what the future holds.

Listinggracefully · 23/08/2025 09:11

I was 23 and a half, 2002, working in my first job and I would stay there in one form of another until the present day.

I was a year away from my first nervous breakdown.

Living in a flat in Bristol with my then BF (now exH), and an actor from Casualty lived in the flat below us. I was trying to work out how to get myself out of that toxic relationship, that I had been in for 5 years at that point, but it would be another 14 years, a wedding, a move to London and 2 DC before I would do it.

I’m in a much better place now, living back in my home town, close to family and with two amazing DC, although going through a bad patch with my MH again.

I have always thought of 23 as being a really good age. For many people education is generally behind you, but commitment and the grinding admin of life is still to come. Even though I was having a torrid time at 23 myself, I do still believe that.

Augustus40 · 23/08/2025 09:15

I was living in Istanbul for 13 months teaching English in a language school. I had taken the Tesol course first in London.

lifetourist · 23/08/2025 09:20

Also 26, living in Birmingham with a friend and working a corporate job that I would stay in until I was 33. Left to retrain as a social worker, met DH via OLD (people thought this was weird back then).

OnlyOneAdda · 23/08/2025 09:20

I had just got back from 6 weeks travelling around Greece the summer after I graduated including a week in Athens watching the Olympics, just about to turn 21 with a big party at my parents house with friends. Life was just beginning. Feels like more than half my life ago!

Figcherry · 23/08/2025 09:24

I was 34, 8 months pregnant with dd, she has 2 dc of her own now.
Life was lovely.

Onefortheroad25 · 23/08/2025 09:26

I was 23 with a 2 year old. Renting with now DH. God we were so young really.

caramac04 · 23/08/2025 09:29

Married, 4 dc aged 1-10 years. Childminding. Sunday job.
Happy.

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