Photo: SSC/ Taxi/ Getty Images 1. Don’t Compare Your Life to What You See on TV
Here’s how TV depicts the lives of women between the ages of 25 and 35: Trendy apartments, cool roommates and dream jobs. Here’s the reality: Small living space or living with parents, an unpaid internship, no clear direction.
Recognize that Change Causes Stress
Moving away from home or the structure of college, interviewing for your first job and trying to establish new friends is exciting but stressful. And stress can trigger depression. In fact, the average age for a first depressive episode for women is 24. And many women continue to struggle with depression that may have started when they were teens.
RELATED: The best thing you can do to target mild depression
3. Appreciate Your Freedom
The 20s and early 30s are full of new beginnings, and you have more autonomy and choice. You can start fresh relationships, free of the constraints and social pressure of high school or college. You can spend time examining your own values, goals and creative possibilities.
4. Be Thankful when Parents Can Help
If you are still living with your parents or had to move back in with them for financial reasons, be grateful that your parents are able and willing to help you. And concentrate on saving money for the future.
RELATED: How to Navigate Uncomfortable Money Situations
5. Establish Autonomy
Just because you live with your parents doesn’t mean you can’t have privacy or autonomy. But you may have to schedule a family meeting to discuss your needs. Your parents will probably welcome the opportunity to share their concerns with you.
6. Cultivate Friendships
Being able to make new friends and maintain old relationships is crucial to good health. It means you will always have someone to support you when coping with change, facing an illness or even losing weight. Search out new friends at work, in your neighborhood, at the gym or through volunteer or political activities. Use social media like Facebook and Meetup to find people with similar interests, or use iVillage message boards and forums to connect with people online. If you’re shy, motivate yourself by focusing on the positive emotions you feel in a friendship.
RELATED: Online Dating: Is There Still a Stigma?
7. Don’t Forget Your Old Friends
Avoid withdrawing from old friends because you’re too busy or feeling sheepish about emotional or financial difficulties. Remember, a friend is someone who loves and accepts you for who you are, not who you should be. Use email, social media, or the telephone, letters and cards to stay in touch. You will feel better and discover that many of your friends share similar concerns.
8. Stay Upbeat About Work
Even if you didn’t get the job you wanted after career training or college, the situation is not hopeless. Instead of bemoaning your current employment, find a mentor, join a career-related networking site, take a course at night and keep your eye out for any possible entrée into your chosen field. If you focus your energy on something you can do effectively rather than what you don’t have, you will feel better about moving toward your goals.
RELATED: Dating in Your 20s: Why You Can't Plan Love
9. Explore Your Options
If you’re still looking for that dream job, find one that allows you to make enough money to get by and spend any extra time taking courses and talking to people in a variety of careers. If there is a career you think you want that requires additional school or training, find someone who will let you “shadow” him or her for a few days so that you can see all aspects of that career before making a decision.
10. Stay Healthy
Coping with life in this decade is much easier if you’re in good health. Stay active and eat healthfully. If you gain too much weight in this decade, it will be very difficult to lose it later.
RELATED: The Best Post-Workout Snacks for To Energize Your Body
11. Find a Good Doctor
Look for a primary-care physician or nurse (before you get sick or injured) to help you maintain preventive health. If you can’t afford healthcare, find a Planned Parenthood clinic or a practice affiliated with a medical school that offers healthcare for young women on a sliding scale.
12. Party in Moderation
Too much alcohol or other drugs, too many late nights and not enough sleep or exercise is a recipe for illness. Plus, these behaviors may put you at risk for making bad choices -- behaving in way you will regret at a work party, developing a long-term substance-abuse problem or having an unwanted pregnancy.
13. Enjoy Life
You don’t need to establish a career, make a long-term commitment to an intimate relationship and buy a condo or house before you’re 35. There is no rush. Simply enjoy whatever you have and work toward your goals. If you feel yourself getting antsy or envious of those lives you see on TV, try some meditation, yoga or another contemplative process. It can help you appreciate whatever you do have now.
Connect with iVillage.ca:
There are no comments yet