My 27th birthday is coming up very soon. Ageing is odd. I don’t feel any different from when I was 17. And from what I hear from others, that’s kind of the way life stays.
I was reading someone’s post recently about turning 30, which made me think about my upcoming birthday. I feel my 20s have been a lot of obligation, which seems different from most people’s carefree 20s.
My 20s.
2004 – I did my first year of uni in Adelaide while still living at home. It was ok, but I was very restricted living at home – wasn’t even allowed to stay late at uni to study without telling my parents what bus I would be home on.
2005 – I was living in London most of this year with my parents. I had a job that was ok but I was a bit over-controlled by my boss. I ended up leaving it after only a few months and took a couple of weeks holiday around Europe (which is on my travel blog www.suitcasescribbles.com). Following that, I made good on the promise I had made my parents since I was about 12 and left home. I moved back to Brisbane, met my now husband just before I turned 20 and got a job.
2006 – I worked this year, getting increasingly depressed by a boring & menial job. A friend I worked with commented afterwards that I started wearing black a lot, and she missed seeing me in bright colours like I used to wear. I ended up getting fired because my boss found out how unhappy I was there and told me to leave – I said I couldn’t because I had no way to pay rent if I quit. I also had a high school friend pass away from a sudden, aggresive cancer. That was a giant shock and the first time I’d ever really dealt with death.
2007 – I went back to uni to finish off the degree I had started in 2004 in a different state.
2008 – Spent the year at uni again. In 2008 I got glandular fever while doing a 5 subject semester at uni…then while I was recovering from glandular fever I started a summer intensive school and a full time job at the same time.
2009-2010 – I was bogged down in learning to drive, learning my first professional job and dragging my butt out of bed at all times of day to take Ben to and from the lousy irregular hour job he had. It wrecked my health and Ben’s health. Also got married.
2011 – Was rock bottom. It was March when Ben ended up in hospital as a type 1 diabetic. Months of hell followed. A friend of mine would just come up to me at work and hug me some days, because that’s all she could do to help me. In June I lost my job (government cutbacks) and spent months trying to find any crap job just to pay the bills.
2012 – I ended up fired from the job I had at the time because my supervisor liked me but her boss didn’t. And the person who gets paid more wins. We got the confirmation of Ben’s misdiagnosis. Spent a lot of effort in readapting our eating to adjust for the new way we had to live. I ended up in the job I currently have and trying to work on a way to live our life they way we actually want to.
I don’t want to say my 20s have been horrible so far. I have had good years and bad years. I do feel that so far I’ve been through more than most people do. And that’s kind of contributing to my exhaustion at the moment. We’re finally getting on top of things and my body is going “hey, relax!” and it’s letting in any bug that comes past me!
I love that throughout this my relationship with my husband hasn’t changed one iota – we are still the same as when we met. People seem shocked at that sometimes. All I can say is that things that have happened haven’t been the fault of either one of us, so why would we be annoyed at each other?
As for the rest of my 20s, well I’m hoping that the worst has passed…. at least for a little while!! I’d love to have a normal life where medical issues aren’t ruling our lives, where we have time to enjoy things, time to TRAVEL and to meet our work and lifestyle goals (namely working for ourselves, travel, buying a house, getting more puppies and things like that).
I was pondering the same thing today about turning 20. It’s been a hell of a few years. I’m hoping my 20’s are better. I’ll work backwards,
2012, Moved 9 hours down the coast and sought out intensive treatment for my mental illness. Finished a year at uni, spent some time in hospital for depression, moved 3 times, and I’ve just started a job.
2011. February, I moved out of home. I was 18. I got a job as a disability support worker. I started uni. I got acutely unwell and attempted to take my life. I spent the rest of the year trying to hold it together.
2010. Finished high school, finished up a two year job in two seperate nursing homes, enrolled in uni.
2009. I was 16. I got a traineeship. I started working and trying to look toward graduating. I began to recognise signs of depression. I turned against my family and spent most of my time at home screaming at my parents.
– It’s not hard to say that I’m desperate for the next decade to be better. I feel much older than I am. I actually have to remind myself that I’m only 20 sometimes.
That’s a lot for just 20 🙁 But I think it’s more than most people do to seek intensive treatment for mental illness at a young age.
Wow! What ups and downs you’ve had! What adventures! Hope your 28th year is wonderful!
It has been a rollercoaster, that’s for sure!! And in that time, we’ve had theme park annual passes, so I’ve been on lots of literal rollercoasters too 🙂