To ask how 'grown up' you were aged 22?

[Soyamilkisniceintea]

I started my first job at 22 and looking back, I was really, really immature

What were you like at 22?

I had ds already and was pregnant with dd so probably more mature than most 22yr olds.

Left school @ 17, worked abroad, half a world away for 4 years. Married there, own house. Left him, transferred back to the Uk to Head Office of a FTSE 100 multinational, divorced, own house. Could drive, do my own car servicing, own DIY and manage a bank account. And run a house competently.

on a drip,being told id die.following hospital stay led me to watch 6 people die in non pleasant ways(or silent)
a grew up lots in that time,hearing people die like that will change a person.it was the time of lots of virus problems in hospitals.
still hear some of them crying out in pain.
I'm not the same from that.

I get that some younger mums will feel mature but retrospectively do you think you were?

I know a lot of women who had babies in their very early twenties who then went onto have a second adolescence when the children were six/seven.

I don't think I really "grew up" until my eyes were suddenly opened and I divorced ex and became a single mum.

Oh god. Still occasionally sleeping in my own vomit. I had a great time, apart from that.

I started to grow up a bit at 22. I'd stopped going out drinking every night and binned my druggy mates. I had my first 'proper' job and was renting a flat with my bf.

I was married and pregnant but super-irresponsible, a postgraduate renting a tiny mouldy bungalow where we made pets of the woodlice and lived on 9k a year!

Jaques Most people I know have/had at least a part time job to actually be able to afford uni. I don't know anyone who didn't have some kind of job before the age of 22, even if it was a paper round

Yeah. I didn't really class them as "jobs". I don't know why - I have worked part time since I was 14. Would still class my first proper full time role as my first job.

soya don't think you missed out.it only leads to what ifs and a little sadness.you did it your way,look for the good in what you did.never look back like that hun.go and make memories just as happy smiley fun now.if youd have done it at the time you mightnot have evenenjoyed it,there is a reaosnyou went your way.xx

Silly really given I worked enough to leave uni with no debt and masses of savings behind me!

I had a two year old and a mortgage to pay.

I felt grown up then and still don't feel any different 13 years on!

First full time job, spending my wages on shots, shoes and clothes. Meeting unsuitable men and having a great time. I was immature but I am glad I had lot so fun in my early twenties.

Not very mature. Sure, I had left home at 18 and was managing my own money/rent/work.

But of course I was clueless about everything else, as all 22 year olds are.

If you've already had children by the age of 22 then I'd say that's a sign of immaturity in itself!

Living in a beautiful flatshare in Edinburgh. Fantastic first job. First 'proper' boyfriend. Friends who gave dinner parties! My wages were £99.97 a week after tax, and came in a little brown envelope.

I was very mature about money and saved as much as I could. But I only had to be responsible for myself - not even a hamster.

I'm 27 now; 2 dc and one on the way, 3 years married, 4 years home owner and 3 years self employed business owner and I still don't feel grown up!

That's unkind bibbity.

I had a few jobs before the age of 22 but I was thinking in terms of "proper" jobs.

Graduated from Uni, first teaching job and bought own home.

Soya I saw the immature younger mothers having children at the same time as me. No stability in their kids lives, not willing to give things up or put their kids first. A lot of them still don't now, some ended up being raised by their parents.
I was dealt a bad hand and I put my head down, put my kid first and got on with it. No drama and a focus on stability. My DP went on a tour of Afghanistan and I kept my life together, progressed in my career. I have no doubt that I am a mature person for my age, but I do know people that would consider themselves mature but I wouldn't them. People might think the same of me, but I am consistently told the opposite.

I was extremely immature. I was living with my heroin addict bf, who was nearly twice my age. I had lost my job due to depression and all of my money, so was stealing for food. I thought I was really grown up because my bf was older, although the reality was I was being used. All I could think about at the time was sex , so definitely not mature!

Thank god I didn't get pregnant at the time!

Dd was 4 and I'd been married for 3 years and I was not a judgemental cunt

I thought I was mature but I wasn't. I had my first 'proper' job, but I spent all my spare cash on handbags and shoes. I was in a relationship with my current DH and nearly cocked that up more than once. I was 'too busy' to go home and see my Grandpa and then he died. Hindsight is a bitch.

A lot more mature than I am now..I seem to have regressed with age