There is something inherently isolating about being in your twenties. Moreso than perhaps any other decade of one’s life, the twenties have a massive range of life stages. You have your fresh twenty-year-olds, potentially the most consistent group, more often than not still in college, knowing their path leads straight to graduation. But from twenty-two to twenty-nine, the world is vast, confusing, and unpredictable. Writing this, I am twenty-four years old. I know people my age who are getting engaged, married, or pregnant; people who are on their third promotion at work; people who seemingly know exactly what they’re doing in life. But on the other hand, there are twenty-four-year-olds like me: struggling to find a job and feeling a bit like a wanderer out in the desert, confused and thirsting for something greater.

Everyone always says it’s normal to be uncertain of things when you’re in your twenties. It’s said constantly, by celebrities, by therapists, by self-help gurus, by pretty much everyone. The phrase is so widespread that it’s almost become a cliché. And yet, no one discusses how much that sucks. It’s great to know that what’s happening is normal, but it would be even better if I had some commiseration as well. If there are other people completely lost, then why are we not finding solace in each other? 

That sense of community, people who understand just how fucking confusing this decade is, is what I want Twenty-Bluffing to be. I want to speak with candor about this sense of loss, about the frustrations of feeling not enough, about this intersection of childhood and adulthood that feels as though I’ve been thrown into the ocean with weights on my ankles. I want to discuss job applications and nostalgia and sex and ambition and burnout. In doing so, I hope that anyone who reads this and is in the same boat finds solace in the knowledge that they are not alone. Even when it’s embarrassing to admit it, none of us know what the fuck we’re doing.

I hope you stick with me on this. Let’s commiserate on being lost together.