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
I moved out at 18 for uni - moved country actually, and then moved again for my Master's and then my PhD. Then the pandemic hit a few months into my PhD and tbh the thought of staying in a city where I barely know anyone, doing home office the whole time because we're heavily discouraged to come in, while freaking out about the border between me and my family potentially/partially closing, was dreadful to me. So I'm at my parents' right now and while we get on each others nerves, it's actually really nice altogether. I missed them! Plus I can hang out with my siblings, who live only 20 minutes away by bus. Missed them too. I'll move back to my uni city in autumn, but for now and especially during the pandemic, I'm happy to be where I am. Being expected to make it alone is a very Anglo thing to me lol. (Though ofc it's different if the family is bigoted etc.)