Your twenties are marketed as the best years of your life. And until I got here, I was pumped. Though I haven’t been in my twenties for long, the reality of being a 21-year-old girl is messy, confusing and lonely.
In lieu of comparing myself to peers who seem to have it together or consuming media that makes me feel like a failure, I composed a list of 6 television shows. Shows that are must-watches for any young woman trying to navigate through the beginning of adulthood and that validate the confusing and absurd experiences that come with being in your 20s.
1. Girls
Created by Lena Dunham, HBO’s Girls follows a group of four women trying to navigate their careers, relationships and identities in New York City. It was one of the first mainstream shows that portrayed young women as selfish and flawed without punishing them for it.
The main characters’ personalities are all unique, yet I find myself in all of them at times.
The female friendships in this show are not idealized; they are complicated and reflect a more nuanced and relatable side of female friendships in early adulthood.
Girls captures the delusion of expectation while being completely lost and insecure. It validates young women making bad decisions without glamorizing them, and the flawed female leads are messy and imperfect.
This show makes me feel a lot better about my experiences because it makes scary things seem normal and passes them off as awkward and uncomfortably honest. The show demonstrates that confusion and being lost are not failures; they’re part of growing up.
The show is hilarious, but it handles uncomfortable situations in a way that rationalizes them.
2. Overcompensating
Overcompensating is, in my opinion, an underrated and relatable college comedy. It follows young adults navigating social performance and perception, with the protagonist hiding his sexuality to fit in.
The realism isn’t accidental in this show; Benito Skinner, alongside Mary Beth Barone, stars in and created the show. Chronicling their own experiences to inspire the uncomfortably real feel the show gives.
In your 20s, everyone is constantly curating their image, whether on LinkedIn, Instagram, or dating apps. And this show captures the pressures to brand yourself for life in your early twenties. It shows that everyone has this underlying social anxiety and problems that they are overcompensating for.
Overcompensating validates the need to perform in order to survive, and that it is difficult to perform in environments that weren’t built for you. The writers Benito Skinner and Mary Beth Barrone share a perspective that feels lived-in, which gives the comedy an uncomfortable amount of realism.
It acknowledges that coming of age is not always glamorous; it can be exhausting and awkward, and I find this show relatable, with the right amount of comedy to be comforting.
3. Broad City
Broad City follows two best friends who are navigating their low-paying jobs, relationship problems and living in a big city. The show does not glamorize success but showcases women trying to survive. The core of the show is the strong female friendship among the characters, which underscores the importance of close connections, especially when struggling.
It’s important to have people to rely on who have your back. I see my own friendships in this show, and that’s what made it so relatable and comforting to me. Broad City suggests that access to joy and friendships is a form of survival in an economy that offers little stability to young women.
The show helps you understand that most people are struggling in their twenties and enjoying their life as much as they can, while ignoring limitations is the best way to get by.
This show really proved to me that no one fully has it together, even if it may seem that way from the outside!
4. Daisy Jones and the Six
Another underrated show I find comforting is Daisy Jones and the Six, a period drama about a fictional band’s rise to fame and the complicated dynamics between ambition, idenity and relationships.
The show captures how ambition, especially for women, is complex and sometimes leads to self-sabotage and feelings of inadequacy. The show depicts young adults aspiring for greatness, and it really shows how having goals does not make you selfish.
Although I do not necessarily want to go down the path of rock stardom, this show was relatable in the sense that sometimes things seem unattainable or dramatic. But Daisy Jones and the Six validates the need to work for yourself and chase your wildest dreams.
Messy and emotionally complex, this show tells a story of self-discovery, reminding viewers that figuring out who you are and which road to take is rarely simple.
5. Vanderpump Rules
I wanted to slip some reality television into this list, and Vanderpump Rules actually does a great job of capturing the experience of being in your 20s. It’s obviously exaggerated, but it still follows real conflicts and resolutions. The series follows young adult servers in Los Angeles who are constantly entangled in drama, bad decisions and messy relationships.
This show demonstrates the messiness of discovering yourself in your 20s. It reminds me that everyone is getting screwed over, navigating complicated relationships, and trying to get their lives together, even if it doesn’t look like it from the outside.
Reality television removes the illusion of perfection, letting Vanderpump Rules show young adults behaving immaturely, impulsively, emotionally and irrationally, which, I would say, is way more common than we would like to admit.
It definitely makes my problems feel way smaller… because at least my ex isn’t Jax Taylor.
6. the sex lives of college girls
The Sex Lives of College Girls is another show set at a university and, similarly to Girls, follows four diverse female protagonists. The characters navigate their sex lives, friendships, and who they want to become, all while balancing classes, extracurriculars and the pressure to figure everything out.
This show perfectly captures the awkwardness of first year, doing so hilariously while still leaning into the unconfortable cringeworthy moments that come with it. It highlights how overwhelming transitions can feel and the pressure to reinvent yourself.
What stands out is how it emphasizes connection. Despite the chaos, bad decisions, and insecurity, the friendships formed become the most grounding part of the experience. It reminds me that no one knows what they are doing at first; we are just trying to find our place and build some confidence along the way.
The show explores academic pressure, romantic confusion, and comparison culture, without losing sight of the fact that growth comes from messy, uncertain moments. It reassures you that feeling awkward, overwhelmed or out of place isn’t failure, it’s part of becoming someone new.
Maybe we’re not doing it wrong
At the end of the day, none of these shows offer a perfect roadmap for your twenties. but thats kind of the point. They remind us that there isn’t one. Being lost, making bad decisions, feeling behind, and questioning everything aren’t things to fix; they’re experiences almost everyone goes through, and these shows prove it.
Maybe your twenties aren’t supposed to be the best years of your life, maybe they are just the most real. I hope you give these shows a watch. they wont fix your life, but they might make you feel a little less alone.