While 25 is by no means old in the larger scheme of things, it seemed that the conversation at some points in the evening were bordering on "omg we're so old" and "i dont want to turn any older" and "what's next in life".

[ The birthday boy - sufficiently drunk by midnight, loving the microphone, and too oblivious too care... Happy Birthday buddy!]

It seems that as children, we were all conditioned to come up with our checklist of life, and if you were anything like me, this checklist all had to be done by 25. The checklist went something like this:

• Go to university and graduate (Tick, done that)
• Fall in love (Tick, done that)
• Get a good job (Tick, done that)
• Get married by 25 (well.. that's not a tick.. haha but i'm only 23 so that's okay lol *no pressure*)
• Buy a house (well.. i'm looking, and i'm pretty sure i'll have one by this time next year if not earlier and i'm not 25 so that's okay)
• Travel (I have travelled, but haven't done as much as I hoped I would've done by now but that's okay)

Now for some of us, we're quite lucky to have ticked quite a few of these checkboxes. But for others that haven't, it seems that there is a rush to get all these done by the time we're 25.

• Not in a relationship? *panic - gotta get a girlfriend, ANY girlfriend*
• Not buying a house? *panic - gotta buy before i reach old age*
• Not married ? *demand a ring - even though u dont want to get married*

.. While I'm quite lucky in that I've ticked most of my checkboxes or will be able to, there are some that seem to take the checkbox thing too seriously, and who feel as if they've achieved nothing if they haven't checked those boxes.

When did it become illegal for us to not to reach these milestones? Can we not just take life as it comes and see where it gets us?

Tell me - do you have your checkboxes, and do you put pressure on yourselves to tick those boxes by a certain age?

Labels: life