For the past several months, I have had no inspiration to write. The reason for this is quite simple: I do not have the time. My best articles have always been the ones that require weeks of research. (These include How we are programmed to believe that beauty is pain, What does smiling mean in different cultures? and Expats reveal what it is like to be a woman in Bulgaria.)

Even though I have not written in weeks, I have had research ideas and subjects at the back of my mind every day – I just know that I do not have the time to do the work. For weeks, I have wanted to research and write about the things that unite us, regardless of where we may be or what we might believe in.

But then I realised, I do not need to bury myself in research when the answer is staring me right in the face. There is something very clear that is uniting most of us who are in our twenties. No matter where we were born or raised, no matter where we find ourselves today, we are all united by one thing: excruciating pressure.

Are these the best years of our lives?

Growing up, we were always told that our twenties would be the best years of our lives.

Why? Because they were for the generation before us.

However, the world today is not what it used to be; in fact, it is nothing like it was before.

Being in your twenties is no longer synonymous with being ‘young and free’. Instead, being in your twenties means working and earning a wage that just about covers your rent. Despite its enormity, said rent only gets you a room or studio, at best. Of course, if you are lucky enough to be in a couple, you can afford better accommodation – but, despite the countless dating apps and social media platforms, finding love in 2024 seems like an impossible task for many.

On top of all of this, we all know that our jobs are not safe. Artificial Intelligence is evolving at a frightening pace, demonstrating how it can replace most of our jobs. Knowing that there is nothing we can do about this, we are left with one option: accept the situation.

Accepting that this is the world we live in purely because we have no other choice, we begin to think outside the box: What can I do to earn more money?

This is not a question birthed by greed or a desire for billions of dollars. We simply want to feel secure and have the living conditions that, comparatively, came easily to those before us.

Here is where the ‘side hustle’ comes in.

Most of us have at least one side hustle – this can be something as simple as selling the clothes we no longer want on websites like Vinted or something much more time-consuming like selling handmade products on Etsy. While I do not see writing articles as a ‘side hustle’, I too have published a short poetry book and I’m currently working on a much larger piece of literature.

The ‘side hustle’ is something we do not need to do. Yet, it feels like something that is essential to our security and survival. Those who are in their twenties cannot rely on the secure career paths of the past, afford housing, or even envision retiring when they are in their sixties. Thus, the ‘side hustle’ becomes a necessity.

Here is where the pressure comes in.

Despite the tough conditions in which we find ourselves, we are still held to the same standards as the generation before us. That is to say, we should be climbing the career ladder (even though nobody stays in the same organisation for as long as they used to anymore), owning properties (even though prices are at an all-time high), and having children (even though we barely have money to support ourselves). What is worse is that we too are holding ourselves to these standards.

The pressure to meet these (frankly unmeetable) expectations is so strong that we crumble beneath it.

What does this mean?

It means that after a full day of work, we want to come home and work for ourselves. While this sounds easy enough, the mental load is too much to handle. On top of this, we need to rest from the day’s work. Thus, we find ourselves stuck in limbo. More often than not, the solution to this is doing nothing at all.

Here is where social media comes in.

We come back from work, exhausted. Now what? We switch off by immersing ourselves in social media. We spend hours scrolling and watching content created by others who are desperately trying to turn their ‘side hustle’ into a living. While this exercise is masked as a form of relaxation, it is actually a mind-numbing task that leads to comparison and, in turn, feelings of inadequacy.

After what can quickly turn into hours of scrolling, we look up from our screens to find our homes untidy and our fridges empty.

Burnt out from the mental load of thinking about our ‘side hustles’ and comparing ourselves to what we see online, we are too tired to complete simple tasks such as cleaning or cooking. So, we eat food that is bad for us and go to sleep just to go to work again.

Overwhelmed by these seemingly simple things, we do not have the energy to make plans and socialise; things that are essential for us as human beings.

Here is where the emotions take over.

Days spent living in a vicious cycle easily lead to burnout. We are today’s youth, we are in our twenties and we are anything but ‘wild and free’.

Those who do not have a partner they can lean on and those who are struggling to find the time (or, considering the state of the world in 2024, the money) to socialise can find themselves feeling lonely and alone.

While this article may very much sound like a rant rather than a researched piece, it is meant to serve as a reminder that you are not alone.