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Are you even in your 20s if you don’t have an existential crisis every other day?

If you’re in your twenties, you will probably relate to this.

With my 22nd birthday came a variety of thoughts making me question things I’ve never questioned before. And I’m not referring to questions of spiritual nature such as wondering if God is real or even something as simple as if I’m on the right path professionally. Instead, I began worrying that time is passing too quickly, and although I’m still young, I might ‘sleep’ through a life-changing opportunity and fail at life if I don’t have my eyes wide open at all times.


You’re probably familiar with FOMO (the fear of missing out) and that’s what I suffer from, except in my case it doesn’t refer to parties or social events in general but it’s more about my career/personal-development/making a good future for myself.

The good thing is, I know that this is totally normal (especially in your 20s) and I’m not the only one dealing with this issue. The bad thing is, I have no idea how to stop worrying about it.

I’ve been very active while I was in college (which wasn’t that long ago by the way): I worked, I volunteered, I was a part of college societies, I did a lot of career research, I met professionals in fields I was interested in working in, I attended talks…and then I finished my degree and got a full time job and took up blogging (which I LOVE) but still feel like I’m not doing enough and I should already be getting a masters and buying a house! It’s insane, I know, but I can’t help it and I know that there are so many people going through the same thing which is why I thought this would be worth addressing on my blog.

And if this is something you’re experiencing yourself, you should know that it's officially a THING and it’s backed up by science!

According to a study in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, your mental health improves as you get older. Author of the study, Dilip Jeste of the Center on Healthy Aging at UCSD said it's all the changes we experience when we're younger that make us worried about our future/missing out.

He explained: ''There is constant peer pressure: you're looking at others and always feeling bad that you're not succeeding like some of them, and you feel like you have lots of choices but you're not really making use of them.’’

I don’t know about you but that’s exactly how I feel. The good news is, according to this study, we gain emotional stability, empathy, self-knowledge and social savviness with age and well, we stress less.

So keep swimming my friends! Better times are coming and the best thing we can do is enjoy the journey in the meantime!

- Paula
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