Have people my age decided to put a 'pause' on life? (Ramblings)

I remember being around 9 or 10 years old and thinking, 'I don't want to have babies until I'm like 25!'. Because of course, 25 was a horribly old age at that time and everyone in their mid 20's was sure to be settled down with a family. At least I had a good 15 years left to be young.

Suddenly, I'm 27 (almost 28, but don't tell anyone) and I've only just gotten married. Do I feel old? No. Have I accomplished everything I thought I would have by now? No! But where did the last 17 years go?! Of course I want children, but none of my friends have them yet so it's ok.

I'm sure everyone feels like this at my age - I know my circle of friends do. We spent our late (and maybe mid) teens drinking in the park, partying and waking up with a dirty hangover after a blackout night that we'll never get back, and we carried it into our early 20's. That's where the last 17 years have gone - into a black hole in my brain somewhere! By my 23rd birthday, I was ready to pack it all in. I could handle a few nights out a year, but please don't try and drag me out every Friday night! Let alone 2 or 3 times a week like I used to be able to do! Instead, I was ready for a glass or two of wine in front of the tv with friends. Or casual drinks at a pub that closed at 11pm (the perfect excuse to go home and to bed!).

And now, aside from those friends of mine who still live in central London (where time seems to travel at a different speed to the rest of the country), we all seem to be in a pattern of early bedtimes, early mornings, and healthy(er) eating. If I dare call any of my close friends after 10pm I would be in serious trouble. As would they if they tried to call me for anything less than urgent! Are we just trying to make up for the damage we caused during our adolescent years? Or have we crashed out into middle-aged life already!? Maybe it's just my particular circle of friends!

Despite my updated decision that 30 is the new 25, I now find myself competing with my younger brother for the number of married friends we have. It doesn't seem like a very large age gap but I have definitely seen a a difference between our age groups. It may be a subtle one, but from what I've observed, the mid-90's born seem to be more focussed on the long-term goal and are much harder to steer off-path than my late 80s/early 90's peers. At their age, none of my friends were married. Most didn't even have a longterm partner. Even now, many of them are contemplating whether it's even worth having kids at all. But here we are, with a 4 year age gap between us, and almost an equal number of married couples to hang out with. Are they rushing into things early or did my 'generation' wait too long, party too much and waste our time maturing while they played the sensible card and caught up with us?

I always think back to a friend of mine who planned to spend 6 months traveling and working in Australia straight after university - she had bought her flight tickets and everything! But life after uni was too fun - we were still living in our student house in central London, living in that limbo between graduation and working life where it was acceptable to be (f)unemployed! She delayed her flight again and again until eventually, she just gave up on the whole idea and stayed in London! I totally understand why - This is fun now so why do something new?! But is it these kind of decisions that are making life so 'tough' for my age group!?

Maybe it's just me and I just happen to know a very sensible sample of the younger age group. Maybe they saw our mistakes and learnt from them. Maybe they owe us for these life lessons! Or maybe I'm just describing first hand observations of Millennial vs Generation Z behaviour traits.

Of course, you may read this and think, 'This is utter nonsense!'. Really this is nothing but a post about my observations on my own life and so it may well have no relevance to the real world. But I do wonder whether my generation is taking life slower because it's a better pace to live at, or whether it's because we're more afraid to jump into big decisions.