to ask you what you were doing at 24?

[jewelledpineapples1]

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?

I was working at Tesco while finishing an indulgent MA and couldn't be bothered to work full time. I had a boyfriend who I thought was the love of my life (wasn't) and wasted a lot of time and my meagre wages buying clothes from Topshop and deciding what to wear out in town on the weekends. I was vain and spent a lot of time looking in the mirror at myself. Knew I'd probably end up teaching and did; still am but I don't love it.
Fast forward 15 years and I'm married with a little one. I'm definitely a nicer person and care less about the indulgent things I did when I was 24. Things I'd change are: worrying about meeting a husband and if I'd run out of time for children. I probably wouldn't teach- it's a thankless and stressful job and actually not helpful with a family despite what people think. I wish I'd been braver and tried new things and had more travel experiences... I bought a house at 25 and sacrificed holidays for a lot of years.
The upshot is, you will just be who you are and do what you'll do at 24, because you can't know how it would have been otherwise. Just enjoy however that looks to you.

I'd just finished an amazing time at uni (undergrad and post grad in two awesome cities) was a qualified teacher and chose to move to Southern China and teach and travel instead of going straight into my NQT year.

Came back and taught for 3 years whilst living in a shared house and frequenting Ibiza and then headed back out to Australia and New Zealand for a little while on a working holiday visa. Unbelievable time :)

Met my DH at 29, married at 32 and now expecting our first child at 33.

Life was just getting started at 24! So exciting, whole world out there to explore. Dream big, you're in no rush :)

Working for the same company I still work for more than 20 years later.

When I was 24:
Single.
No house, car, ANY responsibilities.
Just finished teaching Science in South Korea.
Travelling around South East Asia.
Now (I am 28):
Married.
Have a house with my husband.
Own a car
I have a daughter (pregnant with number 2)
Currently teaching Science in a school in England

SO much can change in such a short space of time. One thing I would say is DON'T RUSH anything!!! If you want to travel, do it. If you want to start a new hobby, do it. It doesn't matter if you don't have any idea what you want to do.... a lot of people don't!

At 24 i was a legit hot mess.
I was convinced I'd meet my "future husband" at uni and also magically discover my dream career.
Neither happened, i hated my uni experience and i floundered a lot.
I was working in a poorly paid job with a bad boss, made shit decisions re:men and smoked and drank too much. I was also fat and living at home 👍 😂

Aged 30 it was kinda coming together but now (mid 30s) I am smashing it and objectively have everything I want and love my life.

• I live with my amazing DP (soon to be DH)
• have a small group of good friends
• have a well paid job with really good career prospects (even in this covid hell)
• a beautiful family home
• nice lifestyle ie. lots of holidays, dinner parties with friends, day trips, we eat in nice restaurants.

We dont have madly extravagant tastes but i can buy things like a pair of shoes in russell and bromley without worrying about my bank balance which still makes my brain go 🤯🤯🤯

15 years ago I would never have believed this would be my life.

Keep the faith and work towards what you want.

I was at University as a ‘mature’ student ! I got engaged which was stupid when I look back.
I felt ancient at 25 but really you have so much time to figure yourself out.

I was in my second professional job after leaving university. I was good at it and happy at work. I lived in a shared house with friends and had just met a serious boyfriend I was with for 5 years. It was a happy time in my life. I used to meet friends for shopping and Chardonnay lunches on Saturdays and then we'd go out wearing the new clothes we'd bought at night. My boyfriend was into fitness. Me and him would go off cycling and hiking. He had such a great body and I think I did too, I definitely had abs. It's quite a while ago now. I moved away after a stalemate in the relationship and now I'm married with kids and no longer have a career, just a job. If I had my time again I would appreciate the career and take it more seriously. I think I should have been better with money too. My dad wanted to help me buy a house. They were so cheap. But I couldn't be bothered.

I was working the same job as I am now, but I'd not been there long. I went out quite a lot, was living in a shared flat with a friend, didn't really have any major plans other than to move to the city I now live in, so I guess well done me for that! However, I had low self-esteem and was sleeping with someone who I stupidly thought would change his (awful) behaviour, and who didn't - my one take away from that time would be to have been more kind to myself.

I had just Met my abusive ex. Little did I know my life was going to change for the worst. Got pregnant a year after meeting him. Ended up in a woman's refuge. Now I'm 29 and in a better place but please don't waste those years. Wish I could go back, don't regret my DS though.

I m 25 so I don't think sharing my life a few months ago is helpful but I do know many people your age don't necessarily have a plan or everything going their way but there's time to turn things around.

At 24 i was 2 years into my career (still in same career 10 years later) and i was pregnant.

24, I was in the RAF in central america

I’m 24 now. Did an apprenticeship straight out of sixth form, but left the industry and am now a department head in another company. DP and I have been together for four years, but only just moved in together as we stayed at home to save for house deposits (only renting for now though). Wish I’d taken time out to travel but DP and I have very good jobs so we’re able to go away a lot. Looking at emigrating to Aus but no plans just yet. I feel like you in that sense that I should have those plans sorted right now, but looking back over what I’ve done, I think I’ve achieved a lot!

At 24 I had been working for 5 years and was a Sales Manager of a small company earning a reasonable pay but not really enjoying it. My DP and I had just bought our first house and we’re planning our wedding for the following summer.

Now at 50 I am still working in the same industry but In a larger company doing a different role much more suited to my skill set and personality. Still with the same DP and married with 2 now adult DC.

The year I was 24 was a really important, liminal year for me, but I hadn't the faintest idea of that when it began.

I met now-DH 9 days before my 24th birthday, when I was 6 months out of an abusive relationship. I was training as an accountant and doing a PhD part-time to keep my head busy lest I tip over the edge altogether. I was living with a group of school friends, close to London, and working every available hour because a Big Six (as was) traineeship meant they thought they'd bought you. Very materialistic and money driven.

By the end of the year, DH and I were engaged, I'd moved me and my traineeship to the South West to be with him, I knew accountancy was not my future but I finished it partly out of pride and partly to pay for the wedding / PhD. Starting to relax into making a home and a life together.

We've now been married 22 years, I work in my PhD field (qualified as an accountant 6 weeks before our first DC was born! Never went back.) and we have 3 teens, a tween and a dog. Moved back to just outside London. Grow our own vegetables and knit our own local community etc. Very happy. We often say this is not quite what we saw in our future when we met, (we had plans for at least 5 years living in London, carousing) but we are very happy.

24 is hardly any age, but like you I thought I'd have it all sorted out by then. You don't need a concrete plan, just a willingness to say yes to what seems right.

I was with my first employer after uni. and by that time was a store manager for a well known fashion brand. Moving all over the country, was in London at 24 flat sharing, clubbing, partying and drinking funds permitting!

At 24 I was temping in the NW and had applied to do a Masters. I was finally enjoying myself after having family deaths a few years before.

At 24 I was living in a homeless shelter with a toddler and newborn after leaving an abusive marriage and fleeing across the country back to my family home town.

I'm now 35, married again to someone who doesn't rape me nightly because it's his "right", with another toddler and I'm studying for a degree. Well I was before the shut down. Now I'm mostly crafting, baking and potty training lol.

Living on a Ken Loach council estate as a single mum unable to afford their kids shoes. I put myself through uni at 28, I have a career of 19 years now related to degree and live in a naice village. Still can't stay fucking married tho.

I had an 8yr old and a few days after my 24th birthday I packed up my worldly goods and moved from north wales to London to start a new job for the Government. I’m 43 now and still here. It was hard trying afresh in a city where I knew no-one but now happily living in Surrey with another 2 kids (15 and 12). My life isn’t perfect but I’m happy enough. I am still working though have a pancreas disease and always in pain, but I try not to let it get me down. When my youngest leaves school I’ll probably head back to wales - slower pace and live and more importantly, family and childhood friends, plus cheaper housing.

My son is 26 now and lives with his Nanna in Wales. He’s working but no plans to move out anytime soon

Married with 2 young children, working. Everyone's circumstances are different. I was a young Mum. Some 24 year olds go travelling

Working in London, in a job I did for twenty more years and am now retraining to do something else. Met my dh and moved to a different country by 28.

I was working for a call centre, still living at home and was seeing someone who often made me feel worthless, though i obviously didn't realise at the time! If i could go back i'd give 24 year old me a kick up the bum to make her realise she could do much, much better!

I was a single mum of soon to be 2 children and working full time.

I was on a two year trip around the world. I was mainly working abroad to fund the occasional trip but it was the best time of my life and taught me so much.