What was your life like at 23?

Domayne

My life was a mess :P
I was a lot in debt, I flitted from one guy to another, one disaster to another, I was addicted to anything that would get me out of my head, spent a lot of time in mental health wards and seeing one Councillor after another, My parents despaired and used to kick me out on a monthly basis so I crashed from a friends sofa, back home and back to a sofa again, Surprisingly, even through all of that I managed to hold down a full time job without getting fired...although I had numerous disaplinaries I even turned up to one of them drunk! LOL
Didn't really start calming down until I was 25-26 :rotfl:

Izadora

23 is the age I give whenever anyone asks "If you could go back to any point in your life..."

I was young and free but, unlike when you're a teenager, had just enough maturity to appreciate it fully at the time.

There are things I'd definitely do differently if I could go back (like not getting hideously into debt) but I think I'd still treat it as the age to go out and have fun as you've still got so much time ahead of you to be a responsible grown up.

Alikay

I was going through a divorce, back living very unhappily with my parents whilst paying mortgage on the house my ex was refusing to pay for or move out of (complicated situation due to mortgage being via my employer - going into arrears would've jeopardised my career). Self esteem was rock bottom, developed glandular fever and never imagined I'd ever be happy again.
24 was a bit better: Bought a little house on a 100% mortgage, started dating again- probably a bit too enthusiastically! At 25 at got together with a great friend (now my DH of 27+ years and dad to our 3 children), and started to feel more content in my own skin. Career has not fared as well as personal life - was doing well in travel trade in early/mid 20's but chose to put family first and have achieved little work-wise since: I'm perfectly OK with that, but sometime feel I'm letting the sisterhood down!

j.e.j.

VestanPance wrote: »

I was completely happy with life back then. Much happier then than I am now in my 40's.

I kind of agree. 23 is a good age to be, - young enough and (hopefully) healthy enough to live your life to the full.

By the time you get to your 40s you've had 2 more decades of [STRIKE]people p-ing you off[/STRIKE] life experience :rotfl: so you're older but wiser.

On a practical note, OP, one thing I really really wish I'd done while I was young was to get some decent health cover. It's about my only real regret in life. If I could tell my younger self anything, it would have been to prioritise getting medical insurance, because I've learned over the proceeding decades that the NHS often ain't what it's cracked up to be.

suejb2

Wowsers!! This was 23 years ago so thanks for the eye opener.
I was working full time in the village where I still live.Had a active social life.With my boyfriend of 2 years who became my O.H. Living at home

166million

:eek:Awful, thanks for reminding me:p

lippy1923

Only 2 years ago but seems like ages now! I feel old at 25. Wait until you reach that milestone lol

I was engaged to my fella (of now 8 years) and living in our first house, which we brought 2 years before. Working full time at the same company I work at now and really enjoying it. I also found out I was preggers with our first child :j

In a nutshell, I was very happy with my little family life but bogged down with mortgage, saving for baby etc. I still saw my close friends but didnt have much of a social life but I supose that's fairly normal as no nights our drinking etc.

snowscreamer

When I turned 23 I had been out of uni and in the "real world" for just over a year. A few months after I had graduated I started my first graduate job (still there now) and bought my first flat in the town centre. I had a lodger with me in my flat to help pay bills and at 23 and a half I met my boyfriend; we started going out properly just before I turned 24.

Fast forward 2 years, age 25 I kicked out my lodger and my boyfriend moved in, then a year later my boyfriend and I bought a proper house together, in a more rural location 5 miles out-of-town (we are both country bumpkins at heart). That was 10 months ago, currently aged 27 and enjoying making plans for the house and making it our own. Also learning some proper money management for the first time as reckless spending on doing up the house last year got us into a fair bit of credit card debt!! But I'm confident that with careful budgeting as we are currently practising we will be back in the black by the end of the year.

I enjoyed 23, it was a good year

onlyroz

At 23 I was married and in the middle of my PhD. Money was tight because I was paid peanuts but we lived comfortably enough. Kids and the proper "career" didn't appear for another two years.

fairy_lights

23 was a pretty rubbish age for me. I'd just graduated uni and moved back in with my parents. I was broke, bored, and apart from some temp work as a cleaner unemployed for the whole year. I used to go for long walks just to kill time and at weekends would get drunk and cry hysterically.
There were a few good things about that year; I met my boyfriend, got my first tattoo, and learnt how to make jam (Quite sad but I love it and it's probably a hobby I'll keep up all my life).
Overall it was a bad year and not one I would want to relive. It makes me sad that my early 20's, when I should have been having the time of my life were not very fun at all.


I'm 27 now and my life, like a fine wine or cheese, is definitely improving with age