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Things You’ll Regret Doing in Your 20s
Young people in their twenties exude an unwavering confidence in their actions, a trait that I have come to appreciate. This self-assuredness is a valuable asset that can propel them towards great achievements.
That’s why so many twenty-somethings make the same mistakes over and over again.
With hindsight, I regret these eight things I did in my early twenties, as so many other people do. Hopefully, this list will help you (or future me) avoid stumbling into the same pitfalls.
1. Not calling your family more.
In my early twenties, my parents and sister called me a few times a week. I hardly ever picked up. Not out of malice, just out of busyness — I was studying for an exam, or I was hanging out with a friend, or I was on a date with my boyfriend.
I lost a lot of time with the people who matter most to me because I knew they would always be there. I knew that I could list them as my lowest priority and that my mom would still call, even if I never picked up. It wasn’t intentional, but I took my family for granted.
Later, I started making more of an effort to actually pick up — or even call them myself.
The lesson I learned? Don’t take advantage of the people who you know will love you no matter what.
3. Working weekends.
Out of college, I was eager to cement myself as a working adult who knew how to #hustle. And I fell into the pervasive notion that you should feed your youth to the grindstone of corporate culture, sacrificing weekends, evenings, and mental health at the altar of productivity.
Then I got laid off.
I learned the hard way that my corporate employers didn’t have my best interests at heart and no amount of grinding or groveling could change that. They were out to make money, with or without me.
I wish I’d taken those weekends to paint, or to swim, or to call my dad. I wish I’d spent time doing anything other than unpaid labour for a company that didn’t value me as much as I had fooled myself into…
