I’m about to hit 25 and it feels like such a weird age — not quite young and clueless anymore, but still figuring so many things out.
I’d love to hear from people a bit older:
What do you wish you knew when you were 25?
What decisions made the biggest difference in your life around that time (good or bad)?
All advice is welcome — life, career, love, health, money, mindset… anything you think a 25-year-old should hear.
I’m turning 25 next week. What advice would you give to your 25-year-old self?
r/Advice
Comments
You can’t add days to your life, but you can life to your days.
Save 10% of your paycheck every week and don’t ever touch it. You will not regret it. Pay yourself first!
Don’t live with regrets or you will regret your life
And invest. In education. In experiences. In health. And in your financial future. Invest now. Don’t stop. (Seriously, if you don’t know how to invest money you don’t have to be great at it. Listen to financial feminist as an intro and just start investing)
Have fun now!
If you have a wish then find a way to do it now don’t wait til later.
When I was 28 an older friend died just when he decided to retire/take it easy. That kicked me in the but to do what I dreamed of (go racing) at 41 I don’t have a fancy roadcar or lots of savings but I have so much fun every time I go to the track
There are phases to life –
In your twenties, you’re in the adolescence of being an adult. You’re learning your wants / desires and boundaries that you set for yourself through the experiences you’re going through at that time.
Late twenties to mid /late thirties you’re in your teenage years of adulthood. You’ve figured out what you WANT and what you desire – but now you’re leaning what you need and what you are no longer willing to put up with in your life.
Late thirties to 40s – you’re an adult. You begin to stop caring what others think of you, what you do or how you go about life.
The reason I state this is because you’re going to make mistakes, feel like you’re behind the curve and compare yourself to others. Don’t.
Live your life for you. Plan for the future and always put away 50-100 a check into savings, before even considering bills and wants. As you grow professionally and get raises – increase the amount by 50% of the raise’s net amount. If you do this, and continue to do so – then you’ll have a safety net for things that go wrong and will rely less on credit cards or loans for unforeseen expenses /emergencies.
401k/Roth IRA – all things I wish I’d paid more attention to in my twenties but didn’t really truly understand until my 30s (thanks public schools).
25 is a turning point – you’re almost out of your adolescence of adulthood and will begin to approach life a bit more responsibly and hopefully with more of a purpose.
Also – the party has to end. Those friends that still want to party all night, work on a few hours of sleep and then do it again – will bring you down. You can remain friends and enjoy the times that you can responsibly join them for those adventures – but be weary of the ones that always need to drink/smoke or constantly be at a party or event. They are the ones who may never find the end of the party and very well may not live beyond it. I know, as a musician, watching many friends die to OD, self-Un-aliving and so on has been brutal. Especially the ones you never saw coming.
MOST IMPORTANT. – If you see red flags in a relationship, feel you’re being manipulated or gaslit – leave immediately. You owe no explanation for doing what’s best for you. If you don’t leave when you’re seeing it, you may not leave without long lasting mental health damage which takes twice as long to repair if you can at all.
All of the above spoken from experience and observation over my almost hand full of decades lived.
Buy toilet paper and face masks
You are never as cool or smart as you think you are.
Get out of the rat race while you can. Build a cabin in the woods and hunt/farm for your food
It doesn’t get better.
Don’t get back up off that ledge.
Jump.
It’s never too late to start again.
At 25 I think I was starting to accept that in life there are certain things that we have to avoid doing – to make sure that we stay on track in life.
At 25 most of our dreams that I had as a kid, I was able to see that we have to adapt– in order to make the best in life.
I know that life isn’t perfect. And neither are our bodies. So we simply have to adapt to the things we can’t change? Relationship, career, family; all of that needs constant attention and modifications – the older we get?
End that relationship soon, because things won’t get better. You will just lie to yourself because you care about him until the shit will hit the fan and you wont recognize yourself after the things you went through and accept what happened to you.
Its hard, its painful, but trust me, its worth it, its for the better.
Oh hey I’m 24 now next year’s 25 so the advice I will give to myself is that I should me more matured and not depends other people. Set some boundaries and piece of mind. Taking care emotional health. Having a lot of money and become more better and better as a person then improve my skill drawing arts etc.
Save money. Work hard. Use birth control.
Always keep your Ego in check. Move through life with kindness, compassion, empathy and with a non-judgmental attitude. Allow yourself some grace. Smile and say hello to people. Help those who need it. Love on animals. Don’t eat too much. Alcohol in moderation always. This is life changing advice I wish someone would have told me when I was your age.
Don’t be afraid to jump to different jobs for more money. I stayed with the same company 10 years and just quit because it got so bad. So many of my former coworkers I’ve started with are much more successful jumping jobs every 2 years. It sounds counterintuitive, but it isn’t how it used to be and companies know they’re not giving raises and promotions to meet market value over time. Have no Company Loyalty, they will have none for you.
Pay attention to who you really hang around with ! The choices you make ! No longer under supervision your free to allow life to get in the way of your future usually this is by;
✅Having fun over responsibilities
✅Thinking money and credit provides things and fun
✅fun over learning a trade or skill to support your future
✅ fun over saving
Look at the habits of those you hang with as you will either mold to them or be the piece of the puzzle 🧩 that no longer fits
Understand your goals and make a clear 5 year plan of where you want to be at 30 otherwise you will float onto your 30’s
You are an electric (thoughts) magnetic (feelings) natural intelligence that is a gift being created that we call “talent”. Love yourself and you will be loved, deceit and you will be deceived. What you squeeze out of your experience is directly correlated to what you squeeze in. Enjoy all the squeezes — what a ride!
Things will happen, people will disappoint you, everyone faces adversity. When that happens always stay hopeful, go to therapy, get help, and never ever stop working out, running or going to the gym. It’ll save your mental health every time. Learn to relax your nervous system and never stress – stress makes us sick.
Save money, invest in your growth and development and growth, whether education or self awareness and learning about the world. Travel when you can, it’ll expose you to different cultures and ideas and will make you an open person who’s well cultured and understanding.
Don’t fret the small things, always give things their true size and put them in their right place, don’t give any particular situation or person more than it deserves.
Don’t take life too seriously. Laugh everyday! Also, lift heavy weights, cardio, lock in on your sleep and eat real food.
Moisturize
Moisturize
Moisturize
You’ll look 5-10 years younger than your former classmates at reunion parties.
Enjoy it! If given the opportunity to go back in time, the most common age people say they’d go back to is 25! Once you hit your late 20s, time just starts to move faster, and it progressively gets faster as you get older. I’m 33, and my 30s have been flying by!
My advice is to use the search function on Reddit more often.
Start investing as much as possible
A few things.
One of the biggest things I’ve learned is to be kind to yourself whenever things aren’t going well. Sometimes stuff is beyond your control. You can get through it, the bad days always end. It’s okay to not have everything figured out. You got this 🙌
Easy – drink less beer.
Apart from the cost, the gradual increase in weight of about 1 1/2 kg a year over 35+ years is not good for the overall health.
Buy Amazon. Not really, but saving early is really useful.
Also, the three big rules to a happy life:
Live in the moment – do your best and allow yourself to experience things, very much including joy.
Think, but don’t overthink. Think about things and how you could have done better, but never allow yourself to get trapped in your own head.
Make the ask. Most people are decent and want to help. But they also don’t really care about you and won’t know what you want unless you ask for it. So, ask. Sometimes the answer will be no, but it will be yes more than you expect.
Good luck!
trade sleep for fun
At you’re age, I was married to the wrong person, professionally struggling, and miserable. It’s never too late to start over.
If you are considering marriage, be cautious whom you marry. If there are lots of repercussions, if it fails.
Put your energy toward the people and things that serve you. Cut out anyone who brings negativity to your life or treats you less than golden.
Invest more, save, prioritize things you enjoy (travel, hobbies, etc) over what is popular on social media and what your friends want to do/blow money on.
Get help for mental health and don’t stop until you find the right Dr and the right medications.