Here’s Why Everyone Gets Stuck In Their 20s

Something weird about being in your 20s is that it is the first time in your life when you don’t know what comes next. Your whole life up until now has been prescribed: school, college, internship, first job…then one day you wake up and realize that you don’t have any idea what you should do next – because it’s entirely up to you.

TBH, this makes almost all of us freeze up and do nothing. We know that we have a hard time getting up in the morning and aren’t loving our jobs, our relationships, etc but we don’t really know what to do about it.

Here’s why: our brains are wired to get us to safety and keep us there. That’s why you have always been on your game until now – you knew the map to the safety of a decent job and life. Only now you realize you want more than just safety but you have no idea what to do about that. Your brain is made to keep you stuck in the comfort zone even if you are low-key miserable there. It says boredom and lack of inspiration is better than risking safety for the life you really want.

If this is hitting home with you, your first step is to figure out what you even want! Pull out a journal and spend some time thinking and writing about what you would do if money didn’t matter. You have probably heard the quote “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” but I prefer “What would you do even if you knew you’d fail?” What would you do 100% for the love of doing it? What did you love doing as a kid? All of these questions are an awesome place to start figuring out your next steps.

I’m not suggesting you quit your job and try to get a career playing dodgeball, but you may decide it’s time to start a blog or podcast, start your own business, go back to school, start volunteering, or take a risk and apply for a job in a new field.