The Twenties Paradox

Jul 2026

Your 20s are a strange decade.
Somehow the most exciting and exhausting stage of your life.
(Then again, every stage so far has been exciting and exhausting)

You’re told to spend and save at the same time.
Study hard but also “make memories.”
Meet people and date, but also “settle down soon enough.”
See your friends and family, but also “find yourself”, preferably before Monday’s 9 a.m. meeting.
Travel while you’re young but make sure you’re saving for retirement.

You’re expected to work like a dog for your future.
Hit the gym. Take care of your health.
Sleep 8 hours a night, but also wake up at 5 a.m.
Start a company. Learn to cook.
Call your girlfriend. Call your mom.
Stay in touch with school friends, college friends, and while you’re at it, make new friends in a brand-new city because you just moved out.
And when everyone’s scattered across different time zones, with no clue when you’ll see them again, you’ll realize how precious each call is.

Meanwhile, the world rushes past you.
One friend is launching a startup. Another just sold theirs and is “taking time off” in Bali.
Someone you know works at a big company and has learned to speak entirely in corporate lingo.
Someone else quit to “do something meaningful.”
Somehow people your age are winning Olympic medals, while others are learning to cook something other than pasta.
The strangest part is that everyone seems to be living a completely different version of their 20s, and somehow we're all wondering if we're doing ours right.

Half your conversations are about work (in my case, tech): the product launch, the next big startup idea, the scramble for funding.
And the other half are about life in all its messy variety:
friends dating since high school,
friends actively trying to meet someone new (and ending up on Hinge),
friends whose parents have started talking about marriage,
friends struggling through long-distance relationships.

And somewhere in between, there are the plans we make for the future:
weekend trips, “someday” dreams, grand ideas we swear we’ll get to,
that somehow never happen, because no one ever has the time.

The only thing I know for sure is that this is just the start of my 20s.
I don’t know if I’m more terrified or thrilled for the day I pack up again, switch jobs, switch cities, and start the chaos all over.

P.S. Wrote this while stressing about the million things I wanted to get done.