I don't know about you... But Im feeling 22.

This is going to be another one of those blogs where Im hopefully writing what everyone else is thinking, despite some perhaps controversial comments. So lets talk about being 22..

This time last year, I was panicking about what to do with my life. I was nearing finals, and suddenly you don't have something to return to after summer. For the first time in my entire life, September was not the beginning of some sort of term. Having not even got through the most stressful period of your life, with exams and dissertation madness, suddenly you're the worst child in the world because you haven't secured a job, got married, bought a home and had 3 kids by June. I mean come on parents, LEAVE US ALONE. I get it, they've supported us through everything and quite frankly funded us through most of it too, but when you've not had an education free moment since leaving nappies, its nice to have a couple of weeks of summer before you join the rat race. And just a breather from the dilapidating anxiety, to get your life together. 

But for those of you currently in that period, you will find a job. It will come out of nowhere and you just have to apply for anything, but do not worry! Its when you get a job that you have to worry...

I realise not everyones in the same position as me, but I know a lot of my friends who are. Suddenly you have two choices. You can move home for a bit, which drives you insane because your parents pick up where they left off at 16 and start asking you where you're going, when you'll be home and god forbid a male enters the household. Or you can stay moved out, for your own independence and not be able to afford to eat. I work in London, and the current climate of rent prices in London means I would have to pay 75% of my salary, in order to go to work and earn money, which goes straight into the small room I would be renting, in order to be able to get to work. How do society expect us to ever progress if all our money is going on rent? Luckily for me, I am able to commute from my parents home which means I do have the ability to save a bit of money, but it comes at the price of independence and my parents good will. Its such a stark difference from our parents generation too, no wonder they can't understand it sometimes. Where I'm from, by their early twenties they were married, and had bought their first apartment for £3,000. You know what I could get for £3k now a days? 3 months rent in London or two thirds of my annual travel card. So please stop judging me for not having moved out yet! Ironically as well, all my friends who didn't go to university are in a position to get mortgages and move out. Sure university means we may have access to higher salary jobs in some cases (I wouldn't have my dream job without my degree), but we also have 50k debt and no idea what its like to support ourselves. So what I'm asking is, couldn't their be a more realistic system which allows us to progress in this life without completely corrupting ourselves financially? I mean how could we have got this far without our parents? And what do those people do who don't get financial support? I fear the answer is, they don't get the same opportunities. Which is absolutely disgusting and makes me realise how bloody lucky (and grateful!) I am. But sadly, if we keep heading the same way, despite doing everything in life I was supposed to do, I won't be able to provide the same for my children. 

The other issue I don't think anyone addresses is the state of our mental health. With so much societal and financial pressure to have your lives together in a world which is working against us, most of us have experienced severe depression or anxiety by now. It's just not easy to find a job/house/boyfriend when you can barely find the will to live? You mix that with living alone in a dingy room somewhere in Zone 3-6, where you can't afford to venture out to see other human beings, and you have the recipe for disaster. I mean you're spending your entire pay cheque to live in one of the most exciting cities in the world, but suddenly you're looking at the same badly plastered walls each night, eating cereal for dinner and searching Tinder for a way out of this misery. But it's ok, because according to Instagram, we're living the dream. 

So there it is, my current anger at London living costs, being an adult-child and the statistics of mental health in 16-24 year olds.  And they wonder why we're always drunk?

xoxo