Dazed and Confused at 22

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Your 20’s are so damn confusing that it’s even hard to explain why it’s so confusing.

Things started getting pretty complicated in the teen years. You are experiencing new things, new feelings, and growing up. You feel too young, but sometimes you feel too old. How you are at age 13 majorly differs from how you are at age 19. But nothing is really expected from you. Yeah, you need to figure out what you’re doing after high school and you have to maybe get a part time job and maybe go to college.

But when you turn 20, you’re already well into college and figuring everything out. Your path finally seems clear and you’ve settled into something.

Then you turn 21 and all of a sudden you can go to all of these bars and buy your own alcohol. But you’re also inching closer to graduation. Things start to get a little blurry.

Then you turn 22 and you need to decide EVERYTHING. Are you getting your masters? Are you moving home? Do you have a job? Do you have any money? Literally WHAT are you going to do?????

Even if you get all of that figured out, you’re put into this little waiting room of life. Your first job is just a stepping stone and your current home is just temporary. Everything has the potential to change in front of you at any time. You just kind of have to decide when that time is right. But you can’t really start what you want to do until you get experience. So you’re stuck waiting and waiting and waiting…

And on top of all that you have to juggle all of your friends who don’t live anywhere near you anymore. You’re also trying to figure out your love life since you dismissed the idea of relationships in college. You now realize relationships matter and you’re way behind on the dating game.

By the end of your 20’s, most people expect you to have a steady career. They expect you to be looking into buying a house, they expect you to be married. Maybe you’ll even have a kid on the way.

It’s the expectations that make this point in your life so confusing. Your own expectations, the expectations of those around you, and society’s expectations. It’s fun to break the rules and get a little lost. But it’s also completely terrifying. Being in your 20’s is like being on a high thrill roller coaster.  It’s totally exciting but also really scary and you’re not sure if you’re crying because you’re happy or crying because you’re sad.

37 thoughts on “Dazed and Confused at 22”

  1. This is so true!
    I’m 23, and myself and all my friends are at different places in our lives. Some are at university, some have bought a house, some are unemployed, some have a short-term job while others have started a career. I think we all make it eventually, it’s not a race. 🙂

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  3. Love this raw honest post! Brought back memories of my “life’s biggest questions” in my early 20’s. My big ones were different than yours because I had 3 kids and married by 22. After 21 was over I put pressure on myself to make my family “look” like what I thought society, my family, and my friends thought it should “look” like. It was gut wrenching! UGH!!! I look back and know if I practiced living in the moment and the laws of attraction as well as having a spiritual hookup as I do now it would have been a breeze. Now, at 47, I am still faced with pressures of life the difference now is how I handle myself. How I handle my thoughts…….If you can find moments of peace in your mind this will help clarify everything…..Wishing you well…….Annette

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    1. Thank you so much 🙂 This post was really just me blurting out my thoughts. It’s funny how much things change but I also understand the pressure to look the way society and my family wants me to. I definitely need to practice living in the moment, thank you for commenting 🙂

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  4. Hey Rosie, such an honest post. Be true to yourself, things always work out the way they’re meant to. I remember being 22, it was a time of huge change for me. I was living in a small town, then I travelled overseas and when I came home I felt in limbo. Then I moved to Melbourne and then bang, when I least expected it I met the guy I was to eventually marry. Enjoy it all Rosie, every single day. Life’s a big adventure and you just never know what’s around the corner.

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  6. Isn’t “a steady career” an old-fashioned idea that’s pretty much burnt out of any genuine relevance now? It’s almost quaint in a sorta nice way that that can be, you know, like seeing the Good Year Blimp floating by the school window.

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  13. I really related to your post even though I’m no longer in my 20’s. I still remember all those feelings of anxiety, inadequacy, and pressure that I put on myself. If I could talk to myself again at 22 I’d say stay the course and follow your dreams. We are never to young or old to choose our happiness. 😊

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  16. I am turning 22 in a couple of days and I do not think I have felt this “worthless” for a lack of a better word. I am currently in the process of completing my degree and have friends who are now already working and seem to be making it into this adulthood life. I am also looking into working while I study so I can permanently move out of my mother’s house. I am constantly fighting the thought of “What have I done with my life?” It is a question that keeps me up all night and wakes me up first thing in the morning.

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    1. I know where you’re coming from, I’ve kind of felt it my whole life. What do I contribute to this world? I think we need to look at it on a smaller scale and don’t compare yourself to others – we all move at our own pace!

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