Late Twenty-Something: Read This!
I'm officially over two months in of being 26. And, I'm going to be honest, it took me these two months to write this blog because 26 was a hard pillow for me to swallow.
Leading up to my birthday, (p.s. tap in Capricorns, sending you all the love because we know our horoscopes don't give us any) I had the mindset that this was the end of my 20s for some reason, considering I passed that 25, "mid-20s" mark. I quite literally was not "feeling 22" despite binge-ing the song and that felt like a problem.
Since then, I've had a lot of conversations and clarity and realized that the last half of our twenties is a pretty awesome age. So, this is my love letter to you mid-to-late twenty-something! This is your permission slip to give yourself some extra grace during these transitional years of our lives (the kind of grace I was not giving myself a month ago) and learn how to be excited about this period of our lives.
Think about it, 30 feels serious, 25 feels like we are still figuring things out, and 26-29 feels like the time to make things happen in prep for our 30s and still have just as much fun as we did in our early twenties. In this blog, I want to share why you should be excited about your late twenties, and share a few things I'm focusing on and learning from now that I've hit 26 (and influencing you to do the same if you're an awkward mid-to-late twenties something stage!)
Ditching age stereotypes
One major thing I'm focusing on taking the pressure off of myself when it comes to age. I had such a mindset of 'my life is over' when I hit this birthday — It seems so silly looking back on it, but 20s are a hard age. There's comparison, there's all the hype of being 20-something, and there's every older person on a plane that I sit next to saying that they wish they could be my age again. i.e., that's a lot of pressure! I got married last year and every time I say something regarding this, EVERYONE has to make a comment about my age. "Oh, you look too young to get married." "I had three kids by that age." And, I really let those comments get to me! SO, I'm working on accepting that my 26 looks different from everyone else's 26, and that's completely okay. I'm done with the stereotype that I need to look like this and be doing that at 26 and taking the pressure off myself to fit into that box.
Shifting my skincare
I don't have teenage skin anymore, and I've been on essentially the same skincare regimen since then. Of course, the minute I turned 26 wasn't a turning point for my skin, but I did start getting serious about all the things I had been doing sporadically — sunscreen, Retinol, vitamin C, exfoliating. I love this blog that goes more in-depth on how we should be adapting our routine as we age.
Living with failure
There is nothing more in this life I hate than failing at something. My whole life I have feared failure so much that I avoid it. In my early twenties and teens, it looked like always taking the easier courses, quitting the job before it quit me, etc. Everyone always says to embrace failure, but I never understood HOW to do so. Here's my formula for living with failure (huge note on this, it's probably different than what you should be doing so find out what this looks like for you specifically!!!), accept that you failed and it sucks, cry about it, vent about it to anyone that listens, completely ignore it for a while, revisit it when you have clarity, decide what you're going to do next — pivot, give up, or try again. I think we were always taught to get back up again after falling down, and I have learned, I can't do that. I need to take time to throw myself a pity party and reflect before I can dive back into something, and I think that's completely okay.
Income streams
In college interviews and essays, I was the weirdo who answered the "where do you want to be in 10 years" question with...."retired." As a person who specializes in passion projects, we'll say, I have never had one thing in life that is my ONLY thing in life. So yes, emphasis on the "s" in income streams. Find fun ways to turn your hobbies into income! And you absolutely will fail at it, and that's okay, too. I'll spare you the story of my RedBubble sticker-designing experience because I have sold over 50 and made about $6.00 in total, but again, it's okay to fail at this, too, and find new ways to earn income without relying on one stream alone.
Trying new hobbies
Back to that point on passion projects...I have a habit of trying to turn something I love doing into an income stream. As per my RedBubble example above, not every hobby has to be making you money. Yes, love what you do and make money at it, blah, blah. But, sometimes passion projects should be just that. You should have hobbies that are so unserious and fun that take your mind off of all your income streams and allow you to just zone out. Burnout is real, and if you are also a recovering perfectionist who struggles to disassociate from your work, you need something else to take your mind off things. This year I'm going to try photography, watercolor painting, gardening, and whatever else fun that comes my way!
Prioritizing financial health
Financial Health is just as important as your physical and mental health. Do I love a shopping spree? Absolutely. But what I love more is a shopping spree that I feel that I've earned. In college, I used to be awesome at budgeting (especially since I was working with practically nothing!) and used the free Mint app to budget constantly. However, Quickbooks shut down that app a few years ago (yes, I'm holding a grudge) and my financial planning shut down with it. I tried to budget out things on my own with a budget journal and an Excel spreadsheet and it just didn't click for me. I use Monarch now, as mentioned by our Founder, Jessica, on her Weekly R.E.P.O.R.T. on the Hashtag Managed podcast.
Being more conscious of blue light
The 2025 TikTok ban (queue horror movie sound effects) was eye-opening for me. Not just as a social media manager, but I realized how often I was clicking on that app on my home screen, especially when the message of the ban popped up for a day. And, that goes for all my nightly activities, they always involve a blue light — my phone, laptop, TV. In my late 26, I'm setting new limits for myself, and I ordered a pair of blue light glasses to help combat it, too.
Less trends, more life.
I have always closely followed trends in one way or another, in every category of life — what I wear, watch, eat, and even things to do. But, I've started to step away from trends and just observe rather than act! I think trends can be fun and can help you relate to others, but so can finding the things that actually make you happy. So, yes I have a closet full of bows at the moment, but I'm slowly getting back to my personal style, too.
Not goal setting
Okay, this one might ruffle some feathers...I am not goal-setting like I used to in my personal life. All throughout high school and college, we were taught to set goals and create S.M.A.R.T. goals to plan out our lives. I stopped setting specific personal goals, and instead, I'm just going with a vision board. I don't think everyone's brain works like this, but my competitive energy has channeled all my goals into a competition with myself. It makes me feel like my goals are tunnel-visioned until I get to check it off, and I can't pivot from it or drop it. Instead, with a vision board I feel like it shows the direction I want to go in, rather than planning out every step of how I'll get there and it allows me to feel more flexible, and not so much of a failure when those goals change or get dropped.
More strategetic with my time
Do you know how long it took me to realize I'm not an intern anymore? I think when we are younger, we are told that our time isn't as valuable, and I 100% think that's not the case. Everyone is an expert at something, everyone is juggling something, and 26 is the year that I control this more, and I hope you do, too. I want
Trying cycle syncing
To be 26 and still have issues with hormonal acne? No, thank you. I was influenced by fellow Social Savvy team member, Maddie on this. (Check out this blog if you want to read more in-depth!) I started cycle-syncing my workout routine last year, but I am starting off 26 with a cycle-synced diet, too. The "Meals She Eats" has been a huge inspiration for me in terms of recipes and I'm slowing stepping in this lifestyle more and more!
Remembering my vitamins
Besides the Flintstones vitamin era in the early 2000s, I haven't been serious about vitamins since! I got my vitamins from a local shop in St. Pete and I'm super excited to be on a new routine with prioritizing vitamins. You can do a quick blood test that helps you figure out what vitamins you are low in, and you can create your routine around this! Or, if you are looking for an easier route, there are plenty of online companies that can set you in the right direction, too - like VitaminLab for example.
Eating better
Listen, I love a Trader Joe's frozen meals, girl dinner vibe....but I'm going to shift away from processed foods and go more into whole foods. This was one of my goals in the new year, but I found it to be a lot harder than I originally thought. So, I've been taking some time to read up on this more, research places local to me that can support this, and actually get on track with foods that make me feel good.
My relationship with caffeine...
I took the EverlyWell food-sensitive test years ago and on this, they tested my caffeine sensitivities among other foods that could be leading to issues. So, I've known for a while that me and caffeine aren't friends, but it's a difficult thing to cut out of your life. I cut out coffee for 6 months in 2024, but once I had a sip of coffee again, I was hooked. This trip around the sun, I'm going to get more serious about cutting out caffeine! I am currently switching over to the Olipop without caffeine for my afternoon soda (specifically the Root Beer and Cream soda!), and I switched to green tea on most days that has a bit less caffeine than my daily cup of coffee (this is just in the serving sizes I'm consuming, vs the difference caffeine levels of green tea vs coffee by the way).
Friends + our different stages of life
Again, 20s are a difficult time, and even though we throw it under one label, it's clearly different and there's a lot of growing during these years. This makes friendships really difficult! Some of my friends are getting married, some are in school, and some are living their travel influencer era, we are all at different stages. I've heard a lot of advice about cutting out friends that you've outgrown. And while I do think it's healthy to audit the relationships in your life and if they actually make you happy, I'm not sure I agree with cutting people out of my life who aren't in the same stage. It's easy to get caught up in comparison. So, the shift I'm learning to make is not to compare myself to my friends and our differences in our 20s, but instead, realize how great this is for growth and learning to have that variety of life stages in our friendships. My single friends can share their Tinder struggles with me, and my friends with kids can teach me about parenting, and I don't need to cut them out because we are different but rather just accept and listen!
Thank you for reading this far! I hope you're with me on a few of these and are in for actually enjoying our "late" twenties! If there's anything you take from this it's to find a way to feel excited about your age again, and adapt to it, vs feeling like it's the "end of an era" and you need to start wrinkle cream immediately...
