One minute you’re walking through campus without a care in the world. Next thing you know, you blink your eyes, and college is a distant memory. Sleeping in on weekdays and day drinking are a thing of the past. Paying bills and grocery shopping are here to stay. Growing up is no fun, especially when you feel pressure to have your life together and still can’t remember to make your bed in the morning. Read on to learn the 25 biggest struggles of your 20s and know that you will survive the quarter-life-crisis.
1. Having FOMO every time you see another friend backpacking through Europe.
2. Wanting to go on an extravagant vacation but wishing your parents would still pay for it.
3. Knowing you should go to the gym, but choosing Netflix instead.
4. Trying to eat healthy, but not being into kale, quinoa or anything gluten-free.
5. Getting way too excited about the couple dollars you saved by using your grocery store’s loyalty card.
6. Cooking something more sophisticated than Ramen and making an absolute mess in the kitchen.
7. Buying a surplus of socks and underwear to avoid doing laundry.
8. Wanting to live on your own but also not wanting to give up the perks of living with your parents.
9. Celebrating another birthday but feeling no different than any other day.
10. Seeing the first sign of wrinkles or a strand of gray hair.
11. Being too old to sit at the “kids’ table” at family parties.
12. Getting your first real job and feeling like an intern again.
13. Wanting to finish one more episode of Law & Order SVU, but knowing you have to wake up at 6 a.m. for work.
14. Missing happy hour because you’re still at the office.
15. Using a vacation day to run errands and do chores.
16. Being excited about getting a paycheck and then realizing you have no money left after paying all of your bills.
17. Buying gifts with your own money instead of borrowing cash from your parents.
18. Hoping to get carded at the bar so you can hang onto your youth.
19. Wanting to order a shot of Fireball, but drinking a glass of wine instead so you won’t be judged.
20. Saying no to that second drink because hangovers are the worst.
21. Starting to realize that maybe college really was the best time of your life.
22. Feeling like you have no friends because everyone lives in different cities now.
23. Being too old for Tinder but too young for eHarmony.
24. Feeling incomplete without a ring on your finger, house you can call your own, pet to take care of or baby on the way.
25. Being pressured to have your life together, but still figuring it all out.
The struggle is real.