Anyone ever up, leave & start a whole new life in their 20s?

Anyone ever up, leave & start a whole new life in their 20s?

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Discussion

glazbagun

Original Poster:

14,280 posts

197 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
Having a bit of a mid/quarter-life crisis here. I'm single, 26, have a flat I like, a job I enjoy, a car that goes, no ties to anything, good relationship with my family, a few good friends. And I'm bored stiff. Life consists of going to the pub with the same friends to talk about the same shit every week. They're all married, etc, getting on with their DIY projects & all, and I cant help but think maybe I should be settling down, too.

But on the other hand I dont want to. I've always wanted to do something, and I'm waaay too young to condemn myself to small town drudgery just yet. The thought of being in my same job twenty years down the line fills me with dread. I dont know whats wrong with me- I'm not doing anything that wasnt perfectly cool a couple of years ago, it just all seems stale & pointless these days, as though the feeling of Satisfaction were some disease that I'm not cured of. Its like I've achieved everything too early, and have run out of goals. If you gave me £20K right now, I'd probably just use it to reduce my mortgage. I'm becomming boring and old. </self pity>

If I were to sell up, go to Uni/travel/whatever, would I be a lunatic for leaving all my hard-earned stability & safely-played previous life behind? I'm not sure I fit in with it anyway, these days, but if I came back changed by travel/more experience, I sure as hell wouldnt anymore. At the same time, the thought of crashing & burning, with a pile of debt in teh middle of a reccession/depression doesnt fit well with my new found mortality now that I'm an old git.

Anyone ever left their previous life behind? Was it worthwhile, or were you just chasing some fantasy idea of what would bring "satisfaction".

Edited by glazbagun on Friday 7th December 16:11

SimonMaidenhead

2,580 posts

203 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
Panamas meant to be nice

Fittster

20,120 posts

213 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
What exactly would you be giving up? Friends and Family will still be there and property can be rented until you wish to return.


Riknos

4,700 posts

204 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
glazbagun said:
Having a bit of a mid/quarter-life crisis here. I'm single, 26, have a flat I like, a job I enjoy, a car that goes, no ties to anything, good relationship with my family, a few good friends. And I'm bored stiff. Life consists of going to the pub with the same friends to talk about the same shit every week. They're all married, etc, getting on with their DIY projects & all, and I cant help but think maybe I should be settling down, too.

But on the other hand I dont want to. I've always wanted to do something, and I'm waaay too young to condemn myself to small town drudgery just yet. The thought of being in my same job twenty years down the line fills me with dread. I dont know whats wrong with me- I'm not doing anything that wasnt perfectly cool a couple of years ago, it just all seems stale & pointless these days, as though the feeling of Satisfaction were some disease that I'm not cured of. Its like I've achieved everything too early, and have run out of goals. If you gave me £20K right now, I'd probably just use it to reduce my mortgage. I'm becomming boring and old. </self pity>

If I were to sell up, go to Uni/travel/whatever, would I be a lunatic for leaving all my hard-earned stability & safely-played previous life behind? I'm not sure I fit in with it anyway, these days, but if I came back changed by travel/more experience, I sure as hell wouldnt anymore. At the same time, the thought of crashing & burning, with a pile of debt in teh middle of a reccession/depression doesnt fit well with my new found mortality now that I'm an old git.

Anyone ever left their previous life behind? Was it worthwhile, or were you just chasing some fantasy idea of what would bring "satisfaction".

Edited by glazbagun on Friday 7th December 16:11
I'm in a similar position, and considered this. I'm just to lazy to go through with it though..

gary_tholl

1,013 posts

270 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
Buy a race car and go play...

Yugguy

10,728 posts

235 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
No, I did it in my 30s.

cronk-flakes

3,480 posts

253 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
I'm 19 and have a pretty decent life. Desk job for good money and plenty of friends, but I can see exactly what you mean. I am giving serious thought to a change of scenery at the start of 2009. Forward thinking..

Why think too far into the future? Just go for it, but when I say go for it think about it a little bit first! wink

[corn]It's something to be experienced, and that is the best life teacher![/corn]

cloggy

4,959 posts

209 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
Buy a canoe.

LeTim

12,915 posts

198 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
glazbagun said:
Having a bit of a mid/quarter-life crisis here. I'm single, 26, have a flat I like, a job I enjoy, a car that goes, no ties to anything, good relationship with my family, a few good friends. And I'm bored stiff. Life consists of going to the pub with the same friends to talk about the same shit every week. They're all married, etc, getting on with their DIY projects & all, and I cant help but think maybe I should be settling down, too.

But on the other hand I dont want to. I've always wanted to do something, and I'm waaay too young to condemn myself to small town drudgery just yet. The thought of being in my same job twenty years down the line fills me with dread. I dont know whats wrong with me- I'm not doing anything that wasnt perfectly cool a couple of years ago, it just all seems stale & pointless these days, as though the feeling of Satisfaction were some disease that I'm not cured of. Its like I've achieved everything too early, and have run out of goals. If you gave me £20K right now, I'd probably just use it to reduce my mortgage. I'm becomming boring and old. </self pity>

If I were to sell up, go to Uni/travel/whatever, would I be a lunatic for leaving all my hard-earned stability & safely-played previous life behind? I'm not sure I fit in with it anyway, these days, but if I came back changed by travel/more experience, I sure as hell wouldnt anymore. At the same time, the thought of crashing & burning, with a pile of debt in teh middle of a reccession/depression doesnt fit well with my new found mortality now that I'm an old git.

Anyone ever left their previous life behind? Was it worthwhile, or were you just chasing some fantasy idea of what would bring "satisfaction".

Edited by glazbagun on Friday 7th December 16:11
Hire two nice looking hookers, have a threesome.

Should perk you up a bit smile

redtopmgb

128 posts

202 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
i can kind of relate to this, i finished an engineering degree about 2.5 yrs ago and since havnt been able to find a job which i think id be interested in. im 25 in january and am considering, if i still cant find anything, going back to uni or trying to find an apprenticeship or something so i can get a decent job in th long run. this is kind of a daunting prospect for me as its most likely to mean moving from my relatively stable life, with girlfriend, renting a house, job etc., to something less certain. id say go for it tho, if your bored stiff of what your doing currently its possibly not goin to get any better. your never goin to know if you dont try it

glazbagun

Original Poster:

14,280 posts

197 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
LeTim said:
Hire two nice looking hookers, have a threesome.

Should perk you up a bit smile
Never thought of that. I should ask my CC company to bump my limit up to 2.5K. biggrin

Just feels stupid feeling like this, its like saying: "I've lived my life well & made a lot of smart decisions. Its no fun, I want to go be an idiot." Its like a "what car should I buy" post! hehe

briSk

14,291 posts

226 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
why not try and get a proper job but in australia (for instance). rather than be a hippy you could go and experience real life somewhere else. keep and rent out the flat at home.. jobs a gooden.

Rach81

8,824 posts

216 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
I feel the same, I'm 26 have the career I've wanted since school but feel bored and aimless.
Having friends that have all settled down kind of leaves you on a limb, that they won't want to go on holidays/trips/travelling, so if your going to do it then you just have to get on with it independently and meet new people along the way.

I'm leaving the RAF after 9 years soon, all I know is that I don't want to live in Scotland anymore, I want to travel and I'm not sure if I want to be a Dental Hygienist forever.
In the meant time I'm drinking wine and coming up with wilder and wilder plans and trying to buy camper vans on Ebay.

Hope you find some inspiration somewhere biggrin

slapmatt

1,132 posts

222 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
Your friends sound rubbish. Get some better ones. Where do you live and what are you into?

LeTim

12,915 posts

198 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
glazbagun said:
LeTim said:
Hire two nice looking hookers, have a threesome.

Should perk you up a bit smile
Never thought of that. I should ask my CC company to bump my limit up to 2.5K. biggrin

Just feels stupid feeling like this, its like saying: "I've lived my life well & made a lot of smart decisions. Its no fun, I want to go be an idiot." Its like a "what car should I buy" post! hehe
Exactly.

Look. You need a bit of excitement, some rafish'ness. Going seven rounds with a couple of Russian lovelies will put a smile on your face and give you a nice memory.

That and getting a sports car, get a Tiv it'll break down all the time and fixing it/ worrying about it starting will give you something to think about.

Oh and join a casino, have a flutter. Just some fun on the side.


Got that, three point plan....

1 - Bum hookers
2 - Get TVR
3 - Join Casino


Don

28,377 posts

284 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
glazbagun said:
LeTim said:
Hire two nice looking hookers, have a threesome.

Should perk you up a bit smile
Never thought of that. I should ask my CC company to bump my limit up to 2.5K. biggrin

Just feels stupid feeling like this, its like saying: "I've lived my life well & made a lot of smart decisions. Its no fun, I want to go be an idiot." Its like a "what car should I buy" post! hehe
Deciding to make a change isn't being an idiot!

Me? I left a good job that paid a (very) decent salary to...

...start a business. Worked in the US, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. And when in the UK I had to move town to where my new business partners lived.

I changed absolutely everything: where I lived, my (local) friends, how I worked.

It was GREAT!

I still see my family - but they live several hundred miles away. Its a pain but not impossible. I also met my wife - now there's an adventure.

So if you want to rush off and make something else of your life - DO IT.

Burgmeister

2,206 posts

210 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
Suicide?

briSk

14,291 posts

226 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
more importatnt than anything in this thread...

..i fully hope 'redtopmgb' posts some pictures in reader's cars.. that sounds a brilliant project! one of my hypothetical projects would be a k20a into an mgb roadster so i am 'loving the idea'..!

Landlord

12,689 posts

257 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
Carpe Diem, mate. Carpe diem.

Oh no, wait. Tempus Fugit.

Oh, hang on, no Carpe Diem. Or is it Inter Alia?

No, definitely Carpe Diem.

In my experience, what "motivates" the majority of people in this world is fear. Not the fear of the outcome of a risk, but the fear of taking it. That leads to a lot of retirement-aged folks wishing they'd done more with their life.

digger_R

1,807 posts

206 months

Friday 7th December 2007
quotequote all
if you want to go and do something with YOUR life then guess what, YOU have to do something about it.

"would I be a lunatic for leaving all my hard-earned stability"

come on dude, what does your hard earned stability involve ? a house/car/job ?

just stuff at the end of the day, you have to be a seriously sad git to value any of the first two over life experiences (I only say the first two as I know some people who are unbelievably satisfied by thier work- you don't sound like one of them)

Don't forget you've only got one life, unless you believe in reincarnation in which case you're gonna come back as a newt/apple etc - so that house and car are fairly pointless