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 had just qualified in my profession. It made me incredibly stressed and anxious. 5 years later I left it and did something entirely different, much more rewarding, and just as fulfilling/lucrative.

I was earning buttons then and had no money. I was about to meet dh but we didn't marry for another 4+ years. What I remember most about those years is the stuff I did with friends and friends and our boyfriends/girlfriends - weekends away/cinema/art/theatre/ and also just talking.

I changed careers again age 50.

Fairly newly qualified junior dr working horrendous hours on the wards Roll on the years married, 4 kids, Phd and working horrendous hours on the wards (its been different in between though)

Running a 36 bed ward.

Now? Hoping to stay alive for a bit longer. I would like to see my surviving children happy and settled.

I was just about to land a brilliant job ( although it was a risk) the stepping stone to my dream job I am in now! My life back then revolved around my then bf ( now DH) and friends. We had just bought a house and spent lots of time doing it up. We bought just before the last recession and lost money on it selling. We would have spent more renting though so It all worked out. Did loads and loads of overtime which I'm grateful for over a decade later.

Lots of going out, travel etc. Minimal responsibility. I miss those days!

I got married at 24 and it lasted 6 months. We spilt up, and I'm now 37, married with my 5th child on the way. I've not had a career, I was on the cusp of my dream job at 26 and then found I was pregnant. My now husband and I had been together 3 months, but I realised there were far more important things than a career, and thinking of all the women at my workplace I didn't want to end up like them, either childless or hardly seeing the children they did have. I made the right choice for me.

At 24 I married my university boyfriend, moved abroad for his job, and got pregnant.

Now nearly 10 years later... We have 2 kids, have moved country a few more times, are very happy... But looking to put down roots in the next year so we can apply for DD1s secondary school in the normal manner. I still have no career, but that hopefully will follow. Only downside to the plan... DH will have to weekly commute for a few years until he can retire from his first career and then find something else (as he will only be early 40s, and the pension isn't enough to live on).

Only 3 years ago for me! I was in my first non-hospitality job that I got through a temp agency, renting a flat with my boyfriend.

I'm still with my boyfriend, we now have a dog and a mortgage, and I'm in a proper salaried job for the same company.

:)

I'm 23. I know it's not quite what you were asking but here we go.
I have a DC of 9 months. I love him with all my heart but he wasn't planned. I have no idea about career as it has changed dramatically since he was born.
I'm hoping it will all work out eventually 😂

I'd been married for 3 years, and had my first baby. I worked as a secretary in a large accountants until I had my second, 2 years later, then got divorced 2 years after that 🤷‍♀️

I then went to university and now teach. Stayed single (I'm in my 50s).

I had just graduated from university so had no money and no career plan. I'm now 53 and my business has been closed because of the coronavirus and I have no money.
You never know what's going to happen. You're still young. Stop worrying!

I was in a different country, working in a totally different job and thinking I needed to get on the housing ladder and settle down. I did all that, and then after five years we uprooted, moved abroad and started renting again! Life is very different to how I planned it at 24. I remember being a bit impatient about my career and super ambitious though, and it bringing exactly zero joy.

It was the year I passed my three year post grad qualification and got engaged to DH.

Now we have been married 25 years and DT’s are 21 this summer and finishing their degrees and starting the next stage of their lives. Due to Brexit, DH and I had planned to move away from the UK to Quebec (DH is French Canadian) but DH, a doctor is now on front line dealing with the coronavirus so everything is on hold.

Working,(at a shit job) married a year, getting drunk and partying hard. Doing an extra a level so I could go to uni. (Now those were fun years). No career plan..

I had dc3 just before I turned 24. I was engaged, having been married - briefly - before and then divorced in my late teens. We’d not long bought our house. So I thought I’d ticked all the boxes! Long story short, I hadn’t; at 37 I’m now a single mum again, renting again, living with ds1&2 and dcat. But I’m so much more content, and thankful for what I have. So, don’t rush, and don’t make life a “to do” list.

At 24 I had just begun my PhD and was engaged to be married to a man. I was planning to TTC and so had just discovered Mumsnet (wow that makes me feel old!). I was expecting to have my family during my PhD, then to try to start into a career in my late 20s.

I'm 35 now.

That marriage crumbled; I lost most of my financial security and moved 100 miles to somewhere I didn't know anyone. I've never managed to stay pregnant, but I did meet the woman I had my beautiful DD with.

I did stay in academia and so the PhD is a stable aspect of my life, and the friends I made on MN in the early years are some of my closest friends.

Career wise, I never thought I'd have got this far with what I was doing when I was 24, but I have to admit it's still not remotely stable, especially given the current situation.

Crying over the end of a disastrous relationship. In a shit job. Living in a flats share I hated.

Two years later I completely changed my life, I met my now DH and my life’s not too bad.

Backpacking and doing an MA

Working in a low paid night job (Still remains one of the best jobs I've ever had!), Avoiding going to university because I wanted to learn in the "real" world.
Spent quite a lot of time bumming around western Europe getting drunk with other Europeans at events so learned fluent drunkenese but never really grasped any actual real language skills.

Spent every penny I earned on good times and travel. Had no clue what I wanted from life but figured I'd find a way and I was definitely not going to be having kids.

12 years, one husband, 1 child (and another on the way) later and I realise I was actually quite a daft person back then and so very naïve.
BUT they were also some of the very best times of my life and I wouldn't change them.
As someone said earlier, I perhaps wish I'd saved a little more and squandered less but education and careers can come at many stages of life so don't worry if you're not finding what lights your fire yet.

If you don't know what you want from life and have no ties then go out and experience what you can. You never know what's out there for you.

24 - living with boyfriend, drinking a lot, working in a job I hated and saving for a mortgage

27 - married said boyfriend at 25, bought a house, went through ivf, got a job I absolutely love, had our beautiful baby and then decided to apply for uni to study mental health nursing

When I was 24 I thought I had it all figured out but 3 quick years later I'm still learning haha

Ahh 24... a baby really. Was with a man who was no good for studying for a career that I decided against . So much time left for you to decide, try not to worry .

Binge watching Prison Break whilst heavily pregnant!

I was just finishing my graduate scheme after university. I was stuck working horrendously long hours, living 10 minutes from the office & all I did was work, & I was underpaid too. It was a toxic office culture, fuelled by it being 2009 and everyone worrying that the economy was fucked & we would lose our jobs if we didn't out compete others/shit on everyone else.

I left that job a couple of year later and my life for SO much better. The economy started to normalise, DH & I bought a flat then got married.

Then: stressed, working too much, renting in central london, in a happy relationship but no time for enjoying life. I was thin though.

Now: relaxed, happy with DH and our 2 kids & the cat. Living in a village in the south east, own our house. Working 4 days p/week & much better hours.

When I was 24 I was a college drop out, unemployed, and had my heart so thorougly broken at 21 that I wasn’t even able to think of a relationship . At 34 I was married, earning a 6 figure salary, owned two houses, and had embarked on IVF after ttc for years. I was pregnant at 38 and gave birth at 39. Life is a constant learning curve and just when you think you have it sorted it throws another curve ball at you. Things will get better I promise

I would also say at 24 we were doing a lot of going without to save and it definitely definitely paid off, we are now in a really secure position and as a result can splash out as we wish.