Real-life things that start to happen in your mid-20s

So you’re in your mid-20s. You spotted your first gray hair a few months ago, found out you’re “quasi” lactose-intolerant at your last check-up, and you feel oppressively tired almost all the time. Sounds about right, right?

Everyone’s mid-20s are obviously different. My “Oh My God I’m In My Mid-20s” moment was when I caught myself drooling over a shiny pot at Williams-Sonoma and wondered who abducted my soul and what they did with it. But whatever. We all have new responsibilities now, whether it’s student loans, a new job, the need for a new job, or bills, bills, bills. Our bodies are subtly changing. Our lives are not-so subtly changing. Things are exciting, and they’re hard, and they’re new.

Here are some signs you just might recognize from this new mid-20s life of yours.

1. It’s not like, official. But you definitely have a bed-time now

And it’s 10:30pm. Okay, fine —11:15 TOPS.

2. Your social media feed is sprinkled with cute baby photos

As you scroll through your Instagram, you start seeing baby-bellies, sonograms featuring tiny, tiny infants, and they all belong to people you know (or knew in high school). There was a time when everyone around your age was sort of on the same page in terms of life stages, but now your paths diverge and everyone gets to do their own thing, make their own choices and live their own lives. And it all shows up in your Instagram feed. Wild.

3. The level of excitement you feel when you make a new friend is embarrassing

Making friends as an adult is HARD WORK. So when you find that that special person you can call a “friend,” it’s definitely a reason to celebrate and feel kinda awesome.

4. The level of shamelessness when you have to flake out on said new friend because you just want to sleep is also embarrassing

But also up-keeping friendships as a grown-up is tough. Like, who has time for a social life with other humans? Who wants to do brunch when you could be sleeping in and eating leftover Panda Express for breakfast? How can you fit in happy hour when you still have work AND cleaning AND taking your grouchy cat to the vet AND that really good book you’ve been meaning to start? I mean, come on.

5. You remember to take your daily vitamins. Sometimes.

Look at you. Being all healthy and stuff! Taking care of your body like a responsible adult human! (Pro-tip: buy the vitamins that taste like candy.)

6. You can now afford the newest iPhone/Android, but choose to ride out your phone child till it forgets it’s a phone

Yes, you can technically afford that four-hundred dollar upgrade, by why get a new phone when you can keep your old phone AND buy like fifty Chipotle burritos (WITH guac!)?

7. Your mom asks you about marriage and babies more often than she asks you about the weather

And you’re running out of smart-ass ways to tell her that you’ve barely figured out how to do your taxes let alone rear a person. (Unless of course, you’re doing just that—and if you are, huge props!)

8. Snapchat gives you anxiety

You resort to asking your little cousin how to do that thing where you swipe and see all your friends’ “stories,” and how do you draw on a picture of your face again? Oh, and why do these photos only exist for like five seconds? Best not to question YOUTHS.

9. You kind of like dark chocolate? And brussels sprouts? And dark, complex beers? Who even are you?

You’re like this weird grown-up alien who has taken over your former Doritos-and-Mountain Dew-loving self, and now you like food with nutritional value and how it makes your body feel. Yikes.

10. Going out after 11pm to Taco Bell is a wild night for you

Speaking of which —Taco Bell in general is quite the scandal, but 11pm? 11pm and tacos made of questionable substance? GIRL GONE WILD.

11. You’re into soy milk. Because your body now hates dairy.

Not because it’s trendy and lives in the organic, earthy-crunchy section in the grocery store.

12. You drool over hardwood floors and marble counter tops when you apartment hunt

You probably have a “Things My New Apartment Must Have” list when you’re out looking for a new place to live. Like, you have these new standards of living now. No more baby stove tops that are built for ants and carpet that still smells like its last frat party. You’re looking for a grown-up space in to live in.

13. It bothers you on a fundamental level when your Gmail is out of control

How do people live when they have more than five unread messages? How does it not pain their bones and hurt their eyes?

14. You only use Facebook to envy-stalk and keep up with the news

Back in college, you updated your photo albums every single week, uploaded every single selfie and party group shot in existence. Now, if someone were to scroll through your Facebook page, they might wonder if you’re still a person who exists on planet earth. Which you are, you’re just older and wiser (okay, maybe not that much wiser).

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