#54

I was (am?) quite set on a tattoo, but I’ve floundered at the point where I have to find someone, make an appointment, etc etc. The only tattoo place I had personally recommended was the place in Exmouth Market but apparently they have a waiting list of months and charge hundreds of pounds per hour, so…

#55

is it really complex and do you live in London?

#56

No. Yes.

#57

Turn 30 next year, fucking dreading it. I take 5-htp now and I don’t want to get closer to death.

#58

recommend http://kidsloveinkdeptford.com/

loads of my friends have got theirs done there (including me). As a reference, this cost me £50.

They’re really good, reasonably priced and definitely take their time going through everything with you. I also waited like four days to get mine done.

#59

Deptford’s really close for me! I’ll check it out.

#60

I’m going to be thirty at the end of November and it honestly doesn’t freak me out at all. To be fair, I am already married, have a kid and had stopped partying quite a long time ago so some of the lifestyle things that other people may be worries about don’t apply to me. My job is hilariously insecure, so that’s fun! But otherwise it’s all great, I think I was born old so it’s just feels natural.

#61

It’s not so much age which makes me feel old, more all the articles about albums/films having their 20th anniversary, and reading stuff like “14 years since Bad Santa came out…”

#62

Lets face it the real big year is turning 26. Suddenly all those job opportunities to massage youth unemployment figures you can no longer apply for and traveling by train is now completely un affordable. I’m not looking forward to that. 30 is still a while away but I know I wont be close to having shit sorted by then. Which is completely fine. I have come to the conclusion that I cant be in a race with other people. I have to take my life in my own stride.

That said a friend who has just turned 30 is liking it. She feels its just a weight of her shoulders and enjoys being at an age where your peers are not as self indulgent.

1 Like
#63

a long waiting list is a good sign. for what you’ve said you want it wont cost too much. get it booked!

#64

I think what you friend feels is what I feel too, and what you said about not racing, though for me it’s a bit opposite. I’m not racing to clock up the experiences and tick things off lists, I’m just enjoying what I have. I know people over 30 who are madly bucket-listing and it stresses them out so badly.

#65

I’m starting to crap myself a bit that I’m 24 and still finishing my BA (very nearly finished though). I’m getting that “anxious to advance” feeling which isn’t nice. I feel like I’ve been living in suspended adulthood for a while.

I’ve never had a proper job either, and have nothing to put on my CV (although I’m currently working part-time as a teacher assistant).

I feel like I’ve wasted a small chunk of my life and that my whole early 20s has essentially been a postponement of completing my degree.

Still have no idea what I want to do with my life, other than to get the fuck out of my area and have a fresh start.

I’ve always considered myself to be a late-developer. I feel no different to how I did when I was 18 (except I’m a bit more sensible).

Stuff like this is only really a thing if you make it a thing (the problem is everyone does, so it always seems like more of a ‘thing’ than it should be).

#66

Turning 30 is the definite biggie. You definitely start being more noticably wary about ticking big boxes once you get past that point. I’m dreading it to be fair. Three years will fly by in no time.

3 Likes
#67

Mate there are loads of people that finish degrees at 24/25 and have no work experience.
The fact that you’re doing part time TA work is a good thing to have on your cv

Basically, no one knows what they’re doing until they’re at least mid twenties anyway, there are loads of people in the same situation as you, you’ll be fine

1 Like
#68

It takes you to get to 30 before it finally sinks in you are never going to be a footballer.

For some reason even though you have never been any good and have even stopped playing you always believed you’d make it

2 Likes
#69

Honestly it’s better to be 24 and stuck in a degree then have done nothing for the last year due to family and injury and have only managed two temp jobs before. Most 24 year olds are not in work that could be even close to considered a career.

The teaching assistant part time stuff will do you way more good then the graduates now pushing pints or boxes in low paid jobs. You’re not in a terrible point. Although I know things have been tough for you and you seem to often expect the worst. But so far it’s okay. It’s not a race you will do things in your own time.

#70

I had that horrible anxiety/ worry about time passing me by and not having done anything with my life in comparison to other people between the ages of about 23-26 and it was awful. Since turning 27 in August, I’ve relaxed a lot more and i’m coming to terms with the fact that certain life milestones don’t necessarily need to happen at a certain age, or in fact, at all.
I feel like I’m at a place where I’m not constantly looking back nostalgically or looking forward preemptively, which is what I was doing. Finally living in the present and feel more mentally happy and stable with what is going on in my life and with the people around me. 30 is still mega adult territory to me, though.

1 Like
#71

I had a bit of a breakdown just after I was thirty - quit my job, moved back in with my parents, drank too much too often, started posting regularly on a messageboard for bedwetters. Classic crisis territory.

It took me about 18 months to sort myself out.

I’m a bit worried because it’s my 35th tomorrow and I have a mortgage which means I can’t afford another wobble.

#72

I’m 40 in 6 months and I still feel like I’ve plenty of time left in this here world to get stuff done.

For what it’s worth, I’ve enjoyed my 30s more than my 20s. As long as you keep doing what interests you and you find new things to interest you (I’ve taken up writing fiction and poetry in the past decade) then all’s good.

#73

23 and a half. That was when I realised that I was turning 24 six months later, which meant I’d be 25 a year after that. Since a big part of my identity at the time was bound up with being young and carefree, turning 25 seemed like the end of the world… until I realised a few seconds later that it was pretty stupid to be getting would up about a birthday/age that wasn’t even that close.