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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask you what you were doing at 24?

311 replies

jewelledpineapples1 · 10/04/2020 20:08

I've just turned 24 and my future seems so uncertain. I thought by this age I would have more of a career plan.

If you don't mind sharing, what were you at 24 and how different is that to where you are now?

OP posts:
fluckityfluckfluck · 10/04/2020 20:11

I wish I could talk to me then. I was lonely and rushed into a marriage with a man that continues to mistreat me even though I divorced him 3 years ago. I'm about to turn 40. Don't stress. Don't rush. Read. Breathe. Be comfortable alone. Trust yourself

panicstationsready · 10/04/2020 20:12

It was a long while ago - but I had been married for 4 years, and was working as an engineer. I then got divorced, had a child, changed careers, got married and had another child. I'm now so far from where i was at 24 it's unrecognisable. Gone are the days when you need to have your career sorted, my husband also changed his entire career when he was 38, so not uncommon.

Amicompletelyinsane · 10/04/2020 20:12

I was married and was just having my first baby. But neither of us went to uni. We met at 18. I'm 32 now. Most people are only just out of uni starting life. There's no rush!

Waxonwaxoff0 · 10/04/2020 20:13

I was a single mum on benefits so you're probably doing better than me!

I'm still a single mum but I'm working now at least. I'm about to turn 30 and still don't have a career plan!

Bream · 10/04/2020 20:14

I was doing a year long round the world backpacking trip. I’m glad I did it then as I probably won’t have another opportunity until I’m retired

CanofCant · 10/04/2020 20:15

Working, volunteering travelling, getting very drunk. It was good at the time and I suppose has helped shaped my future but I wish I had been more savvy with finances and pensions, thought ahead a bit more. So my advice is to put a bit aside every month.

howmuchfood · 10/04/2020 20:15

When I was 24 I had not long met my now DH (met him 3 months before I turned 24).
We were both working full time, starting to build up careers, partying at the weekends and going on holidays.

I'm now 32 (almost 33), we've been married for almost 5 years, have one ds who is almost 4, another one on the way and a puppy. We own our own house and don't party at the weekend anymore Grin

userxx · 10/04/2020 20:15

Partying hard.

RandomMess · 10/04/2020 20:16

Just graduated and pregnant after a ONS with toxic parents....

Wingingitsince2018 · 10/04/2020 20:16

I was working around 80 hours a week, 40 doing 'internships' and 40 working behind a bar so that I could actually pay my rent.

Thescrewinthetuna · 10/04/2020 20:16

I was working a job that was a stepping stone for me. I hated it. Then I found out I was pregnant after only being with my then-boyfriend of a year. Had my first child at 25.
After maternity leave became a SAHM, married and had another child. Now I’m 31 and looking to retrain in a new career once my youngest is at school. Definitely not where I’d planned to be at this point but life is constantly changing and you’ve got to adapt and go for it.

Anthilda · 10/04/2020 20:16

I was working ft. I was clubbing. I was child free and massively into fitness, going to gyms, classes and running.
I had plenty of what I thought were friends and i had hope for the future

Total opposite of what I am now Grin.

Appiandterri · 10/04/2020 20:17

I had graduated from uni at 22 and, unable to get a job, I went off to work the summer season in a hotel. Met someone, went travelling for several months, got engaged then-still unable to find a job-started working in a supermarket which is where I was at 24, and for several more years, after going in their management programme. A world away from where I thought I would be when I was doing my degree.
Along the way we got married, bought a house, had a family & I retrained.
I’m now a HCP.

ThePlatypusAlwaysTriumphs · 10/04/2020 20:17

I was working on my first job after uni, about to move into my second. I went straight from school to uni to work, and now (in my 40s, still working) sometimes wish I'd given myself a chance to do other things while young! Been working ever since, my only hope now is that we are healthy enough in retirement to get that time back!

FilthyforFirth · 10/04/2020 20:17

I was living in a flatshare with mates, single, working in what was my first job in the field I was interested in. I had graduated 2 years earlier.

At 31 I got married, 32 had my first child and 34 changed careers completely. I am now 35 and pregnant with my second.

What I'm saying is, nothing I have now I had at 24! Plenty of time to change tracks if you arent enjoying what you're doing job wise.

muddledmidget · 10/04/2020 20:17

I'd been qualified as a pharmacist for a year and I got married. 12 years later, still working as a pharmacist (and back with the original company), still living in the same house and still married. My life has barely changed which is a little worrying

Tempjob · 10/04/2020 20:18

My advice is to enjoy your 20s- travel, have great sex and enjoy all your freedom!!!

At 24 I was second year of a PhD and getting over a terrible relationship breakdown. I was very lonely. I wish I had invested more in to friendships and enjoying myself eg cinema, travel, reading novels. I just moped around and studied hard.

I did put the qualifications to good use- I work in the research field so that did stand me in good stead for later when life became more exciting again with marriage and children.

NiceLegsShameAboutTheFace · 10/04/2020 20:18

Oooh, I was a trainee accountant at 24. Now I'm 53 and ..... I'm an accountant. I'm not the flighty sort Grin

LoveWillOvercome · 10/04/2020 20:18

Travelling and then doing loads of drugs as my dad had just died.

I did have a good ish job by then though (and somehow managed to keep it!).

As this year is already showing us, everything can change in a very short space of time. Just keep going day by day to understand what makes you happy and then work towards it more and more.

Wingingitsince2018 · 10/04/2020 20:18

I should say I then sacked off the internships, saved up and went travelling and did some season work.

Then did a master to change career path.

Now happily in a career I enjoy, married and pretty happy with how I spent my early 20's!

sonjadog · 10/04/2020 20:20

At 24 I was renting someone's basement as it was cheap, I was back at university studying for my second undergraduate degree, and I was in and on off relationship with a man who I was in love with at the time, but who I can see with hindsight was never the guy for me.

It took me until my early thirties to get my shit together, but I have no regrets at all about not having a big plan in my twenties. I spent a lot of time exploring what life had to offer.

YahBasic · 10/04/2020 20:21

Living and working in South East Asia with now DH.

We both had decent salaries, we’re living rent-free & all bills paid for in a v low tax country.

We were eating out most nights, partying, travelling twice a month etc. It was amazing.

The career I’m in 7 years later is related, but not the same. Now married to DH and bought a house back in the UK after 8 years abroad.

Flupibass · 10/04/2020 20:22

I’d qualified as a teacher and was working in my first school which I was just about to leave. I’d been with my boyfriend ( now husband ) for about a year and we were going travelling which we did for 1 and a half years.

AdoptAdaptImprove · 10/04/2020 20:23

I was having the time of my life, had moved to London for my first proper post-graduation job, and was doing the slightly unusual thing of actually using the subject of my arts degree in my job. Having an amazing social life, enjoying work and making loads of friends.

Four years later, I changed my location, met my now-husband, changed my career to use the other half of my degree subject matter, and am still working in that subject area 20 years later: I took a higher degree in it, and am now a specialist in my area, having worked in various roles till I found the one I wanted to stick at.

You can’t know what will happen in the future, and I’d just enjoy being young and exploring all your options now. My husband went back to university and changed career in his 40s, and that’s also gone well, so it’s never too late. Relax!

MamaGee09 · 10/04/2020 20:23

When I was 24 I was working as assistant manager in retail, fast forward 20 years and I’ve had 2 children and worked in hospitality for the last 18 years to fit in with the children and my dh’s work so I was home during the day for the children. However this past year I’ve been at college studying childhood practice so that I can become an early year’s practitioner, best decision I’ve made, I should have done it sooner!