First, you lay on your back and ask yourself if it is true that you’re turning 25. You may even consult the calendar, and ask your parents whether the date is accurate. You could be correct without being accurate you know? And then you look at yourself and ask, “Do I really want to be 25? Where did the years go?”
I didn’t even realize I had turned 25 the year I turned 25. It just went really quickly.
Frederick, 29, Music Producer
I thought I was ready for the world at 25, here I am turning 26 and I still don’t feel ready.
Wiz, 26, Forex Trader
The first thing I realised was that I couldn’t say I was in my early twenties anymore. Yup, I was now in my mid-twenties, and that flex was gone. I didn’t like it.
Tega, 27, Product Designer
I didn’t have any issues with 25. I had already had a clear vision of what I wanted it to look like because I had been thinking about it since I turned 20. I mean, I expected to be married at 25. Lol.
Otaru, 28, Fashion Designer
Honestly? It felt good to turn 25, but I still felt like I wasn’t doing good enough, that I needed to do better.
Sammie, 28, Civil Engineer
25 makes you realize that you are clocking a quarter of a century, and if you like to overthink things as I do, you ask yourself, “What happened to being a Nobel prize winner at 16? Or becoming the next Beyoncé, and driving a Porsche at 21, and travelling the world and rubbing shoulders with Hollywood big shots?”
Where did those dreams go?
And you sigh, and sigh, and sigh again.
My 25th year was totally depressing. I hated it. I’m looking forward to turning 26, though.
Faith, 26, Enterpreneur
I spent that year learning more about product design, and going to Nasarawa for ‘clearance’ once a month. Lol.
Tega
I had learnt how to use every kind of software that I needed to learn for my career in Civil Engineering. Still, jobs nor dey fall in.
Sammie
25 makes you irritable, quite easily. You do not like loud noise, you’d rather be indoors than out, and you come face to face with the identity question. The one that you can’t exactly answer because really, you’re just 25 and you have no clue what’s going to happen this year. You’re just stringing along, affirmations, Twitter banter and Pinterest your Novocain. Social media depresses you too, because some raggedy kid is just 19 and has 2M+
followers on TikTok and dictates what should happen if ever you’re in a “don’t know what to wear” crisis. Purr. Or they’re studying some complex course that’s never going to be included in a million years in the educational curriculum in your corner of West Africa, and their home office set-up is just IT. Ugh.
I suddenly had the provider mentality, towards my parents, especially my mom. Not that they needed it, but I couldn’t shake it off. I had to do something, and so I remember I always sent off a portion of my ‘allawee’ to my mom.”
Tega
I thought I would have my life all figured out by 25.
Otaru
25, as much as it is exciting to be able to say, ”Hi, I just turned 25!” and squeal in happiness, allows you to see that you’re a pool of experiences, whether direct or indirect. It makes you long for substance and sustainability, and so, if it is not working out, you’d rather end it than stress your emotional health. You wouldn’t have done that in 24 or 23. 25 is like the benchmark, the point, all that you do from now on determines if you’re going to have a really nice life, by your standards, or a very shitty one, by society’s standards.
“I’m happy I embraced my life’s dream of becoming a fashion designer. I started building the foundation for this business between 20 and 22. I try to focus on doing better with my business each year rather than counting my age, haha. This helps because the more stable my business is becoming, the more stable my mental health is”.
25-year-olds hate to be broke, it is the stem of the most of our worry and it leads to psychological stress and instability as it were.”
Otaru
A year down the line, and I think it paid off. All of those endless YouTube videos and all that design practice helped me settle in at this new job.
Sammie
Thus, 25 makes you begin to journal, to plan, to fall sick and still show up at work, to say no to toxic people and culture and situations and to prioritise your health. 25 makes you decide whether religion is all that and if you should really give it a try, and it makes you more
opinionated about civil rights issues and public administration and it allows you to actively participate in the hoax called democracy (in this part of the world).
25 is the start to cultivating the habits that determine what your life yields, and so, you’re really focused on seeking solutions to problems, and some problems are bigger than one person and so you build your community of like minds. Your support system.
“I was talking to my friend, Esther, on my way home from a run, about how she felt because she was turning 26 the year that I turned 25. In reality, I was comforting myself.” – Tega
25, alas, makes you realize that life is bloody short and doesn’t guarantee anything. You could watch your friends die and be helpless about it, you could lose family as quickly as you can snap your fingers, and you could even expire one day, becoming a memory or a face on a T-shirt. So, it teaches you to love truly, deeply, and madly and live life to the fullest.
“I had to serve Nigeria in the year that I turned 25. And in that year, I met a girl. It wasn’t planned.” – George, 27, Data Analyst.
And if 25 doesn’t make you go through all of this, perhaps 40 would.
To be honest, that BIG REALIZATION….yunno the one you’re kinda conscious of the fact that okay…I’m kinda getting old didn’t hit me at 25. That happened at 26.
Tega
If I ever feel like going back to 25, it wouldn’t be because I didn’t do my best, but it would be because I wish I had more time to outdo my best. It will also be because it feels like time is running very quickly and 30 is just around the corner.
Otaru
P.S.: This could be fiction, or not.
