For those who have been through their 20s, how did you or what advice can you give to a 27 year old man trying to make something of his life
I’ve recently enrolled in college in the uk with the hopes of going to university next year to become an occupational therapist. My main priority is studying as I want to get a fast track in to year 2 at uni ( a good grade is needed). Sometimes I do feel that I’m always tired, I don’t give my girlfriend enough attention or put in a massive amount of effort to the relationship cause half the time I’m stressed or focused on other things within my life.
I do find it hard to balance & admit this openly. I feel behind enough in life & now I do feel iam locked in so to speak for studying as I wish to pursue this career out of interest but more for a stable pay & career. I come from a broken home, brought up by a single mum so within myself I know the importance of having a half decent career & how much it can affect families if your not financially stable.
So again my question is, did you guys just focus on yourself?, did you manage to balance relationships / friendships life etc and still make it work with your career etc.
Any advice for balance, what a guy in his 20s should be focused on would be appreciated
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For those who have been through their 20s, how did you or what advice can you give to a 27 year old man trying to make something of his life
I’ve recently enrolled in college in the uk with the hopes of going to university next year to become an occupational therapist. My main priority is studying as I want to get a fast track in to year 2 at uni ( a good grade is needed). Sometimes I do feel that I’m always tired, I don’t give my girlfriend enough attention or put in a massive amount of effort to the relationship cause half the time I’m stressed or focused on other things within my life.
I do find it hard to balance & admit this openly. I feel behind enough in life & now I do feel iam locked in so to speak for studying as I wish to pursue this career out of interest but more for a stable pay & career. I come from a broken home, brought up by a single mum so within myself I know the importance of having a half decent career & how much it can affect families if your not financially stable.
So again my question is, did you guys just focus on yourself?, did you manage to balance relationships / friendships life etc and still make it work with your career etc.
Any advice for balance, what a guy in his 20s should be focused on would be appreciated
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Prioritize your life
Sure having a career is great but you should be able to manage that the time youre at work…so if you work 9 hours then work 9 hours but dont make it 10 or 11…you wont be that much ahead and you just robbed yourself of your twenties.
But again, everyones life is different
We can’t tell you what YOU should be focused on. But below is what worked for me. But I never wanted to be rich. But I do want to have lots of loved ones.
Tldr: Basically by choosing a secure career but not focusing only on it, I then have the flexibility to focus on what is really important in my life. Me and my relationships. I’ll never be wealthy, in monetary values but my financial needs are met (and will continue to be as I am a skilled worker in demand) and because of that, I have the time and stress free life to make sure my social and health needs are more than met.
For me, I focused on my career just enough that I would have a stable and secure job that would provide the finances and flexibility for the life I wanted. Which was not much effort, 3 years of university, chose a career in health as it’s pretty secure and in my country pays well.
Once I had the job and a year of full time experience I dropped back to 3 days a week and used the spare time to work on my own health which was in the dirt and the health of my relationships which needed watering to bloom.
Thanks to my financial stability, I have been able to pursue my relationships at my own leisure. I don’t live a life of excess so my earnings aren’t huge, they’re just enough to squirrel some away and do my hobbies.
A few years after that I dropped back to two days a week and I pick up an extra overtime here and there as I find that it’s more efficient to work an extra 6 hours and get paid for 12 hours extra than it is to work a whole extra day of 8 hours.
That frees up even more time for relationships and my own health and happiness.
I water my friendship gardens frequently and have large friend groups of close friends. i have both a wife and a gf whom I love that I get so much time to be with and am very blessed.
Personally I didn’t. I gave far too much attention to work and had no relationships at all in my 20s. I still managed to keep in touch with friends but wasn’t really making many new ones.
So, don’t be like me I guess.
I didn’t even try to be in a relationship until I was done with college, but I was done with that at 21. For the first year of work, I threw myself into it, but after a while, I had to balance out my work/life ratio.
Basically I worked hard and played hard. I know I sound a bit like some alpha bro, but that’s what I was able to do in my 20’s. As a 55 year old, it sounds exhausting.
I come from a broke home too.
I advice priotising relationship since she is giving you something valuable time. Otger might advice focus on yourself since your wife hasnt been born yet.
Best advice I can give is to make sure you have balance at this age.
I spent so much time in my early-mid 20s on my career that it turned out to be a waste as I ended up changing my mind on what I wanted to do.
I didn’t actually end up in my current career till my mid-30s, and I’m 46 now.
Make sure you prioritize relationships and mental and physical health. I let my body go in my early 20s cause I was studying so much.