What was your life like in you 20's?

[Amandistan]

I am aware that NMA have been around for a while and the most common age for fans is probably 40 something.
However i am 26 and was wondering what sort of life you had at that age?

What was you job?
Did you have you shit all worked out then?
Were you more angry? would you be friends with yourself at the time?

[Bunny]

Life in my 20s. Married at 21 and my own home. Divorced at 25 and then entered a very dark place. Had my first son at 29. I had one job that lasted most of my 20s. I had good friends around me but missed a lot of social events cos of work. In all honesty I cant remember a lot of my 20s so much has happened since then. I was a different beast, less confident and of course there are things that Id do differently with the benefit of hindsight. I cant say I regret anything because it shaped what I am now. Looking at 20 somethings now, without being disrespectful, at that age they/I are still very immature in thought and action, compared to 40 somethings. I dont think they/I realise it at the time. Priorities are different and your mindset is about fun and fast times.
Id probably think I was ok if I met me now but probably wouldnt be friends.

[Pol]

I had my first kid when i was 19. Moved in with my girlfriend in a council flat in Kilmarnock. I found it really hard was missing the single life gigs etc. Found it impossible to get a job as i had no real skills and had left school with no qualifications, managed to get a place at college for two years and after that my first decent proper job working in the hyster fork lift factory in Irvine. Started to realize that i missed out on life and got back into music etc and stopped being as boring lol. I would say to you Amanda go out and have the best time possible for you.

[Master Ray]

Gotta be honest, I pissed away my 20's.  Failed to get into film school (my dream) at 19, so worked in a video store until 24 whilst still trying (and still failed...)

Then got into playing in bad rock bands whilst working for the local newspaper and then the insurance business whilst thinking bad thrash metal was the way forwards... went to a lot of gigs and had SO many great times... had minimal success with the ladies (some, though...  ) and somehow woke up at 30 with no money, no career prospects, no love in my life and nothing much else to show for it and a decade-long hangover that still sometimes resonates nowadays...

And I have to say, my 30's weren't much better... 

Still, at least I had some damn good times, which is more than certain friends from back in the day have to say for themselves... the guys who are in their 40's, went all 'normal' and are now struggling with such a midlife crises because of it...

Life ain't a sprint, it's a marathon and there are so many years ahead of me... I can only offer you that, Amanda.  26?  Pah, you're just getting started, kid!  So much time ahead of you!  Get thinking and get doing!   

[Shush]

I would advise, be mindful of the future. You are 26, the next 14 years till you hit 40 will fuckin fly by before you even know what is going on. Always plan ahead. If you live for the moment, it so often disappoints anyway.

When you are 40, you will spend the next few years wishing you were still 26. !!!!!!!!!

[lotus]

When you are 40, you will spend the next few years wishing you were still 26. !!!!!!!!!

here`s a qouting:
I want to be 26 today, but as clever as I`m  now ...

[sozbot]

I am aware that NMA have been around for a while and the most common age for fans is probably 40 something.
However i am 26 and was wondering what sort of life you had at that age?

What was you job?
Did you have you shit all worked out then?
Were you more angry? would you be friends with yourself at the time?

I'm turning 32 in a few months and I haven't even REMOTELY got "shit all worked out"!

I married quite young (24), was widowed a few months later due to a freak accident, so then I moved back in with my parents for a while. Then I decided to up sticks and move from Australia to the UK. I've been here six years now and don't regret it - met a fantastic bloke who I married almost a year ago, and my career is starting to do OK. (I'm a freelance musician, have been since my mid-20s)

I think if anything, I'm more angry now. I used to put up with a heck of a lot that I really didn't need to put up with. I wasn't strong enough to stand up for myself, but once I lost everything (or thought I did), I realised that there was absolutely no need for me to be a pushover. I no longer sit back and put up with things that I have the ability to change.

I've often said to my husband that he probably wouldn't have much liked the person I was in my early 20s. I have some long-standing friends who've been around since before then and stuck around through the bad years, but frankly, at 31 I'm more like the person I was at 18 than 24! I don't think I'd be friends with the person I was aged 20-24, and that has a lot to do with the person I was with (and may he rest in peace, I loved him and I have no wish to speak ill of the dead, but it wasn't the healthiest relationship).

I'm sort of OK with not having stuff all figured out, and I guess I can just work it all out as it goes along. Seems to be the most relaxed way of living life, for me.

[rick a.]

It appears that I must be one of the "older ones" on this site. And I still haven't sorted everything out.What I can remember of my 20's is a bit hazy but I do remember working in a warehouse and going to LOTS of gigs. didn't make much money but I made enough to pay my bills and have enough left over to go out and "play". I miss not going to the amount of shows I used to but 2014 was the best gig year I've had in many.
The one thing I've learned in my time is patience. with myself and others.

[Heno]

i love this thread but am not yet prepared to drag all that madness up. i can remember so much of it so well. and the happiness and the pain and the insanity

[Rusco]

I think my twenties brought self-confidence although I was generally quite unsure about many things. There were lots of new things I became involved with. Played in bands, went on to the gigs nearly every weekend and found new friends. I became crushed to some girls quite often and remember I was looking for something real...

It was tampering, searching, fumbles, searching and tampering and again searching for something (fate, future, love, and some kind of mastery at some musical or artistic career) until I entered to depression for 2-3 years after a nice relationship. Until then I started to really think what would I want to do. This way I passed ten years then and my thirties brought a whole new era to my life. My wife and a career I felt fits best for me. We moved away from cities.

I've always felt it's quite nice to get older. But I had also some 40 years crisis when I was 37. After graduating in fine arts and specialised in traditional printmaking from university of applied sciences I realised I really had to make efforts to prove I'm worth to be employed.

...

If then I had have an ability to see me in the future I'm not quite sure would I had been excited about the view. 

[Red]

My 20's

Such a long time ago.

Spent the majority of the 20's watching NMA, my first gig was Rock City Feb 87 (I was 21) so very rarely missed a gig in 80's or 90's

Worked for a local haulage firm until Sept 89 then got a job on the railway doing track maintenance, which i still do but had an enforced break due to redundancy between March 2010 and May 2015

Also I was(still am) a scooterist so spent many a weekend riding round the country with like minded mates to meet up at a god forsaken seaside town to get pissed for the weekend and then ride home.
Don't do as many rallies now as involved in scooter racing(current British Champions) 

At the time I wasn't bothered about having a family so just enjoyed myself, I didn't meet my missus until 1994 but we're still together and have a beautiful daughter who is 19 next month and is studying at Newcastle Uni

it doesn't matter what you do as long as you enjoy yourself and live life to the full.

Those around you may not approve of what you do but it's your life not theirs.

As someone said to me a long time ago, enjoy yourself now as we're a long time dead.