5 Reasons Your Early 20s Were ?Traumatic?

Kristen Stewart is the cover star of this month’s US Marie Claire and during her interview with the magazine she broaches a lot of topics. Including how the beginning of her Hollywood career was marred by the intrusive shadow of celebrity culture. Although she had been pulling her weight in serious pictures before the vampire love story that is?Twilight, she says the time that it all kicked off was not without its complications. “Between ages 15 and 20, it was really intense,? she says. “I was constantly anxious. I was kind of a control freak. If I didn’t know how something was going to turn out, I would make myself ill, or just be locked up or inhibited in a way that was really debilitating.”

That doesn’t sound remotely fun. Kristen also alludes to one time in her life that was particularly awful, “Speaking very candidly, it was a really traumatic period in my early 20s that kick-started something in me that was a bit more feral.” Chances are we all know to what she?is referring.

While some people, nasty people, may slam Kristen for painting some of the most exciting and profitable years of her life with the negative brush, we’re feeling her vibe. Yes, being in your twenties is fun. You’re young. Your cleansing routine could include a bag of lime and you’d still look alright. But it was also a rollercoaster of emotions, and sometimes you really felt like you were flailing. However, now we’re older and wiser, we’re revisiting some of our biggest stress buttons from the time we were okay with Sex on Fire being on the party playlist. And thanking various deities that we made it through in one piece.

1. People Were Always Asking You What You Wanted To Do

Remember the stomach churning few weeks when you were 18, just fresh out of the Leaving Certificate final exam? No sooner had thrashed your uniform at the bottom of your laundry basket and a parade of uncles and aunts who didn’t give you confirmation money started ?visiting?, asking what your plans were?for college. You thought this would stop when you started college and signed up to the Kayaking Society (whose meetings you never attended), but no. The gentle interrogation will continue for another two’decades. However, when you got?to 24 and started channeling the teenage nightmare you never tapped into at the time, you stopped these enquiries dead with talk of signing on and joining a political fringe party. In fact, your parents shut down these conversations before you ever got a chance to try this trick a second time.

2. Your Metabolism ?Matured?

That diet of bad white wine and Eurosaver deals that worked so well when you first hit your age of majority was never going to last. Cue a memorable trip to a city centre express supermarket where you bought broccoli and embarked on the saddest Google search of your life (?vitamins??). You didn’t know it at the time, but you will hit 26 and discover Martha Stewart.

3. The O.C., The Notebook, The Gilmore Girls And Gossip Girl Lied

You slowly realised life is not like television. Reading graphic novels does not Seth Cohen make. Very rarely will you receive a Chuck Bass-esque gift. If you’re lucky, you get a cheap taxi fare covered at some stage. Also, most men you met did not become recurring love interests. And the vast majority you encountered?in smoking areas are as bad for you as passive smoking. This is not to say you shouldn’t have fun, just don’t expect to meet The One when your life revolves around yellow stickers in off-licences.

4. You Made A Lot of Fashion And Beauty Mistakes (While Spending A Lot Of Money)

The amount you spent on bodycon dresses and skirts? Living in fear of the IMF. Having yellowed balayage was a metaphor for something you still haven’t figured out. That burgundy eye shadow just made you look like you had a Victorian disease. Sporting a red lip 24/7 did make you look as insane as that guy once said you were. At least your eyebrows look great now.?

5. You Had?No Money*

*Author’s note: A German flatmate who I was subletting with once asked me had I any plans for the weekend. I told her I was lying low because of funds and she then did an impression of the above gif on loop. I moved out soon after.