My friends and I call it the crisis of the mid-twenties. The curse of ‘I have to do it before I’m 30 or I’ll be married with kids and life as I once knew it will be over.’
It’s a thought that hovers above the heads of just about every female twenty-something I know, including myself. The idea that life as we know it will end on our thirtieth birthday to be replaced by home loan repayments, washing machines and the pitter-patter of tiny feet; the belief that moment we sign a marriage certificate or mortgage papers, we’ll also sign away the opportunity to be young, carefree and completely selfish.
We rarely speak of the scary deadline, but we all know it exists. It’s the reason many of my friends have recently quit their jobs, mainlined for the airport and jumped on the first plane to ‘life experience’ (otherwise known as the Greek Islands or Rio de Janeiro.) It’s the motivation for the handful of ‘forever’ couples I know who have celebrated their 25th birthdays and broken up days later.
It’s like we’re scared of looking back in five, 10 or 30 years time and thinking we should have done more. That we should have travelled further, tried more drugs or worked harder for that promotion before children and partners were a factor in our decision making process.
It’s a terribly Gen Y way to think, isn’t it? Or is it….