I am about to turn 24, and I (am lucky enough to) still live with my parents whereas most of my friends have already "moved on." I live in a small town in the bible belt, and it seems like a good chunk of the people that just graduated college are now getting married to their high school sweetheart and having kids right off the bat. Some of my other high school friends (I didn't have a good college run) are now actuaries, accountants, and IT guys and are relatively comfortable with serious partners. Needless to say, I can't really relate to them at all anymore, unfortunately (nor would they really have time to get together regardless).
Idk I just kinda feel embarrassed about the state of my life as a person in their mid-twenties still living at home and I'm curious if anyone can relate. My parents aren't rich or anything like that, so they can't help me pay off my student debt or any of my medical bills, but they're giving me a place for free so I cannot complain. It seems like everywhere I go I can't get away from people (or even media in general) mocking the idea of living with your parents because you're a loser with mental health problems who can't pull yourself up by the bootstraps and start a company with your trust fund money or some shit
It's become less and less viable to actually go and check the boxes on the normative 'life success' list as time's gone on. Fewer people are able to leave home, much later in their lives, with diminished social and employment opportunities, with ever more ways to spend less and less money, and so on and so on (schniff)
The fact I can't afford rent let alone food & upkeep costs means even if I wanted kids I'd still settle for a cat.
yeah if things continue as they are, I'd wager that fewer zoomers than any other preceding generation will be able to pass these 'landmarks'
lol yeah I am never going to be able to have kids and I'll be lucky as hell if I could afford a cat. I swear this world gets darker and darker every single day as you age having been raised in a lower middle class (whatever the fuck that is) household. Like, in high school, I thought I was pretty well off because I never had to worry about food, clothing, or shelter, then college comes around and gives me a dose of reality. I thought a job would just fall into my lap and my social circle would last forever
'Lower middle class' just means 'my parents saw some class mobility in their lives'. My folks are fine, really bootstrapped and bodysurfed their way through the economic tides over the years and now own their own homes, and yet they struggle to see how anyone could fall short on such a path because of it.
I don't know why I used the term "lower middle class." Perhaps to try to paint a visual?It's all working class
My dad always made a decent salary and works for a boss, but calls himself a capitalist