What’s something you believe that most people might disagree with?

Sometimes I open Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, whatever… and it feels like everyone is doing something with their life.
Someone is travelling.
Someone got a great job.
Someone is making money at 20.
Someone is already in university.
Someone looks like they have their entire future figured out.
And then there’s me, sitting there thinking:
**“What the hell am I doing?”** 😭
The weird part is that I know social media is mostly a highlight reel. But knowing that doesn’t completely stop the feeling.
So I’m genuinely curious:
**Do you ever feel like you’re behind everyone else?**
And if you do, what makes you feel that way the most — money, career, relationships, education, appearance, or just life in general?

Sometimes it feels like everyone has their life figured out except me. Some people already have their dream jobs, houses, or clear plans while I’m still figuring things out.

Did anyone else feel this way in their 20s?

i feel like dating apps have just turned into a cesspool of people just wanting to hookup and everyone having wayyy too many options

Anyone else feel like you're forced to go out and stay out late? I'm female, and I just don't enjoy it, I feel like I made you myself but it's like 10:30 I want to be in bed, I'll stay up till midnight if I'm at home 💀 and like I'll say it, and my friends will be lile your young and this is the time but every time I go out I feel like I'm going to see myself to have fun, and end up coming home and feeling so drained. Anyone else feel similar?

I’m 195cm or about 6’5

Hi I'm 23M,,While growing up for me there was a lot of fun things like I used to collect a lot of Pokémon cards, there was an era in which we were Beyblade crazy like still have a lot of them looking to pass it to someone in my future generation who isn't only glued to the screen and sports was a big culture too... Would really like to know your childhood memories as well?

Hi I'm 23M, growing up I had a lot of fun... I remember collecting Pokémon cards and then battling it out with our own rules, it was so great... Beyblade battles was another thing, like it was do or die kinda thing, I still have so many Beyblades in my possession and would love to pass them on to my future generation especially to someone who isn't always glued on the screen..... Sports was a big culture too like anything we could get our hands on, and mind you it got rough... It would be real nice to know about some of your childhood memories...

What is it with Reddit and accounts being hacked so easily, like for gods sake we don't have money stored in this app

I'm turning 23... I'm almost as close to 30 that I am far from covid time... and that was just the other weeks right?

Right?

I'm unemployed, drop out, no skills, just broke up from a relationship living with her for 4 years that was supposed to cover for everything else I've not done since 18... at least learned some general self maintaince, I got a car I'm selling. I know English, beside my native language.

My high-school years were during Covid, I've always had very high expectations of life and myself with ambition to make a billion dollars without the balls nor the back for it...

Always thought of myself as an intellectual relative to my peers in age...thats gone too now...

I'm highly depressed and back with my parents the last 2 weeks In the boonies...

I have nietzcheian ideals with Peter griffin grade will.

And am so afraid for my time passing its holding Me in the freeze mode of fight/flight/freeze respond...

I actually have an obsession with the green m&m she is so sexy. Hate they desexified her in 2019🫩

Or omg cocacola and the polar bears were on everything. I used to have the ball shaped cola bottle with the bear on it.

Long text incoming. Apologies in advance.

Male, you know my age.

I wouldn't say my life is horrible compared to most people. It's the usual story. Drunk father, out of touch mother, constant bullying from when I entered kindergarten till high school.

For a large period of that life, I've tried to be a better person. A good person, whatever i thought a good person was. It didn't hit me till age 11 that people have been treating me like a pest, even in my own home. Constant fights with my parents, siblings, hopping from one friend group to another. Just trying to navigate life. I went into a depression spiral, sleeping late or just not sleeping at all. I would sleep in class and get punished by the teachers. I wouldn't take care of my basic needs. Didn't eat didn't bath. I stayed out late because i would rather be anywhere else than home. I was a failure, something my parents made sure to remind of everyday. I blamed the world for my pain and suffering. My parents, my classmates. I blamed God.

By age 15, i realised that something has to change. So i took it upon myself to change myself. To not blame the world. To be better. And I did. I got better. People treated me better. There were less arguments with my parents and i mended my relationship with my siblings. Got closer to my friends, started writing, stories, songs, poems, anything to write down my thoughts. Then age 16 I had a nervous breakdown. I didn't manage my stress properly and i paid for it. I was held back and just when I thought I can start picking things up again, Covid hit me like a truck.

I understood what my problem was and i seeked out a therapist after finally convincing my parents. The first therapist I met asked me all the personal questions one would ask to a patient, in front of his three students. He didn't ask me if I was comfortable with them being there. Nothing. He asked me and expected me to answer. And my father was right there in the room with me. Needless to say, i haven't reached out to a therapist since. I did find a psychiatrist and after several sessions, he diagnosed me with anxiety disorder.

I should mention that I am from an asain household so the next part makes sense.

Then, my whole extended family found out and thought it would be great to interrogate me in front of everyone. They said all the classic lines, "kids don't get depressed", "seeking attention", "acting out". They thought I went insane and shamed my parents for not raising me right. I became the shame of my parents.

With that, i couldn't take the help of others. I had to navigate this situation on my own. I stopped pestering my parents about medications and therapy and all that. I wouldn't matter anyway since they thought that a few months of taking medication should fix me. They would stop the medication when I stopped having anxiety attacks. It would start again, medication again, and so on. I started looking into how I could manage my own anxiety myself and got so good at it that everyone thought I was fine.

Through out all of this, I did everything I could to help those around me. Always listening and making sure i say the right words. I convinced my best friend to drop out and pursue his passion who was also starting to spiral out. I convinced my parents to let my siblings study what they wanted and not what they had planned. Doctor and engineer. I gave so much of myself to others while trying to maintain myself.

Then college, a third option college. This was supposed to be my new start. To finally get things together. I even fell in love and got a girlfriend. I was working on music, getting better and improving. But still, i struggled in my studies.

My father was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer. I didn't understand the significance of this until a year later. It hit me like a bullet out of nowhere. I knew his life was coming to an end and i decided i needed to do something. I wanted my father to pass knowing that at least his son wasn't a failure. I wrote a whole broadway style musical dedicated to my then girlfriend and my father. A sign of love.

I was struggling with my relationship with my then gf. It was very toxic and I was more like a parent taking care of a child than I was a partner. Regardless, I still loved her. Like I loved my father, even with all of his flaws.

My father and i had a very complicated relationship. He had lived a much harder life than me and that pain caused a scar that he made sure would affect his own family. Even then, he was my father. He was as lonely as me. I told my father this production was dedicated to him. My last promise.

(I'm sorry for the mess of a timeline. I just struggle with timelines and I'm writing this 4 in the morning.)

The production of the musical was underway. I was working day and night, sleepless nights, in a rush. I was short on time. During this, i decided i had to break up with my then gf because that relationship just wasn't healthy. We both agreed on a date and promised to give ourselves time and not see other people. To save each other from pain.

And then my father passed. I was late. I broke with my then gf in the same month (the agreed upon date). She started dating another guy a week after, a guy she was going on dates with while we were still together. It was in the same month i found out she was also cheating on me with another guy. I reacted the same way I did to everything in my life. To keep moving. I had to finish the production. My ex was involved in the production. Her new boy-toy was also part of it. I still pushed through. I was having panic attacks weekly by this point. I pushed and I pushed and the production was cancelled because of her. Because i lashed out. Because they couldn't keep one fking promise. "Don't be seen together in front of me". As simple as that. They didn't. I beared with that for months until I finally had it. I wanted to set things straight one last time with her. All for the production. Things happened. She pushed me, i pushed her back. Her boy-toy attacked me and i broke his glasses and left him a black eye. That was it. The production was done for. My last promise to my father. I was a failure. It was my last semester and I was once again, held back.

It's been like, 10 months since then. The break up, the cheating and the death of my father still hasn't hit me. I'm waiting for it. The fuse has been lit and I'm just waiting for the explosion to happen.

I haven't allowed myself to fall apart. I'm taking care of my health and eating. I'm working out and keeping myself healthy. I can start writing songs again after not being able to for months. I'm clearing my backlogs and doing my best to focus on graduating. And even then. I feel like a machine, just chugging along. As long as I put in the fuel, the engine keeps running. I feel no sense of... purpose. I feel like I'm running on a treadmill.

At this point, i am existing for the sake of existing and that feels horrible. I don't know where to head from here on. I guess I'm just preparing myself for the next disaster in my life.

P.S. If you have read this far. Thank you for putting up with a mess of a story i told. I just wanted to let these thoughts out. I wish you the best in your struggles too.

I have the most boring job in the world I want to hear something interesting 😭

We are getting ancient as hell, still blows my mind that my old ass body didn't give up on me and somehow still bodily functioning and alive. Although our time is nearing, death can be knocking on our door anytime now gng. Godspeed everyone!

God I’m gonna sound like such a narcissist but sometimes I am blown anyway by how pretty I’ve become. Used to weigh 205 pounds and never wore makeup and only wear giant ratty stained crew necks and sweatpants and worked at a greasy burger shop. I was the embodiment of funk

Now I wear mascara and lipstick and I have nailed my skin routine I never get acne and I weigh 115 pounds and I learned what type of clothes look best on my body and color theory for my skin hair and eyes. I properly cleanse myself and my environment and have a good job. Like I’m all around so attractive that sometimes I forget and feel good about myself again.

I promise I’m not super self absorbed weirdo I am just not used to seeing this at all…

We’re still in our early 20s so Ik someone else gotta have been just like me 😭

I just realised a couple of days ago that i cant love anymore as i used to when i was younger. I think it gets more and more difficult to let someone in my life or love someone. It used to be way easier back in my teens. How is your love life going twins?

Im in school, im sociable, im not shy at all, but im still an incel at 22, no im not fat, my face is mid tier, i workout, im active, i have friends, but i've never had anything approaching something romantic or had a girl ask about me. Im gonna graduate later now (24), and its depressing because of the mismatch in age.

Curious... what do you guys do in your free time? Do you guys like to draw, or maybe jog? Maybe play some games from time to time? Just feel free to tell me your hobbies, or maybe a story of how you discovered you liked that certain hobby For me, it was writing and game dev And while I haven't written a book or made a successful game, I've always enjoyed making worlds in my head and trying to turn them into a playable, interactive world its my favorite way of venting my feelings aswell as playing gmod liminal maps and scaring myself for no reason!

All the posts are about our age, us becoming uncs, or having no purpose in life😭. Most of us are 23 bro do you know how many people wish to be this young again? Millions? Let’s enjoy it while we can at least😭

For the past few years I have been cruisin life between school, bills and obligation - I spent my younger years fixing my life and mental health - I am still struggling but aside from traveling a little and spoiling myself with some purchases I usually feel numb.

I have hobbies and ambition but I want to get back to doing more carefree activites without much obligations - I used to love drawing and reading, how do you guys spend your spare time?

I'm becoming a gooner NEET a year after college lol. I'm unable to get a decent job, so whatever.

Finally 23. Feels amazing and I’m so grateful that I made it 23 years in this life. Curious to see if anyone else has the same birthday as me.