#this was top five worst medical experiences and i have a lifetime of shitty experience to draw on

[knowlesian]

never disputed a medical bill in my life because i am largely a conflict-averse wimp but i guess no time like the present to start

[mmmthornton]

IDK if the last ask went through or not on this hellhole site, and this one is overstepping anyway so feel free to ignore, but I'm about to turn 26, working a job I dislike, still single and in the closet, struggling with my finances, swimming in CONSTANT anxiety, and I desperately need some kind of assurance that life won't always be this awful or I may tip into a full blown quarter life crisis.

Aw buddy, this legit reads like it could’ve been sent from my past self and i don’t know if that’s a comfort or not to you. At 26 I was still living at home, in the closet, undiagnosed depression running amok, working at a retail job with a bunch of homophobes and generally toxic idiots and stressing about my financials and the future.

I don’t want to give any kind of rosy and glowing impression of my life right now. If you jumped from 26 to now for me, I’m currently unemployed and single, sitting on my couch on a Monday watching bullshit youtube videos with medicated moisturizer on my hands because of gross winter dryness. I’m anxious about money and the economy and where i’m going to be at the end of the year and i’ve still got depression which i cope with by smoking weed in between doing spotty contracted work online and applying for jobs. This all on TOP of the general state of Life and America in this the year of 2021.

I would still take all of this in my current life if it means I could keep the experiences and the living that’s happened to me in the last five years.

In that time i felt listened to for my mental illness for the first time in my life. I got medication that i know works for me and reached moments in my career that I never thought possible. Hell, that work i mentioned doing? I never would’ve even thought i could have the skill to do that at 26 and now its work that I can confidently do practically in my sleep. I’ve been stable enough to treat myself to things i really like and take myself for actually life-changing vacations with my own hard-earned $$$, and got to turn 29 in Puerto Rico getting blazed out by a drag queen in a video game dive bar. I’ve made homes for myself anywhere i’ve lived and i am currently in a place where i can walk around in my underwear with my cat screaming for no reason the entire time i’ve been writing this like the cute little asshole she is. I’ve made friends, gotten into relationships, and lost friends and gotten out of relationships, any of which have alternatively made me feel better as a person and like just laying on the couch eating junk food. Many of the people who have seen me through this stuff are people I would’ve had NO way of knowing when I was 26.

I know it feels disingenuous when every other fucking commercial goes off on this, but you’re truly not alone in feeling like right now could be the worst period of your life. I can’t say that you’ll never have shitty times or possibly more once-in-a-lifetime recession experiences (as someone who graduated HS in 2008....ugh). I will say that the things you have left to experience and the accomplishments you have left to hit are literally impossible to count. Your life will probably not look anything like mine in five years, but it should be pretty exciting to see what happens.

Take care anon, you’re in good company and you’ve got a lot to offer the world. <3