Drained, pressured, spiritless
To begin with, it’s crazy that I am now 24. Seems I started tumbler at 21 yo so three years have passed? Time literally flies.
I’ve just watched the movie 27 dresses out of the blue, impulsively, just because the podcast I was listening on my way back home was talking about it. It was a great movie, it really was, but it was tiring. That is most likely because I was identifying myself with Jane, who cannot say no to anyone. The reason why I projected myself into the character is not I can’t say no like Jane (I am very opinionated and can easily say no if I want to), it was because the movie reminded me of the social expectation of being married and finding a partner.
I’ve been single for over a year, after breaking up (or being broken up) with a British guy for having different values in time, ambition, and priorities. While I being single, my close friends from primary schools have started settling down with their boyfriends. They started dating at college, overcame the strong wave of stepping into the real world, then reached the point where they seriously thinking of future, their future, together.
Being 24, 25 means that you witness the first wave of engagements and weddings of your old classmates. They look happy, I’m happy for them, and I feel pain. Whenever I see some smiling, cheerful post of my friends’ engagements posts on social media, I feel pressured for some reasons. I am happy but I feel pain. “Maybe I will be single for the rest of my life, what if all my friends would be talking about babies and kids at the friends gathering and I would be the only leftovers”
But at the same time, I also remember the fact that I always wanted to be different from others. I went to grad school overseas while most of my college classmates started working. I chose to go to Beijing while most of my friends chose spending time in western countries. I always wanted to be unique, but do I want to be get married at younger age just because everyone else does?
Feeling peer pressured, I set the account on the dating app for the first time in a while. I used to use Tinder but that was purely for fun. Swiped, swiped, texted, swiped, texted, met in person, swiped, texted.... in only for like 10 days, I got tired of it. I felt sorry for myself for all the pathetic actions to make me fit into the social standard (24 year old should have a stable boyfriend) so desperately.
“You’re turning 25. You’d better be setting down, hadn’t you?” To all those voices in my head, I should be saying that I always wanted to be a unique person, career-wise and personality-wise. It is okay to be unique about the way you live your life. It’s boring to live someone’s life. You are already stepping out of the ‘normal rail’ so there’s nothing to be afraid of. Just be unique, be you.











