Check the sell by date

Research from the Office of National Statistics (2019) showed that many key life events that people in adulthood experience – including starting work, moving out of their parents’ home, having children and getting married – are all happening at older ages than they used to, and sometimes in a different order.

People’s later-life milestones appear to be shifting too. The most recent available data about our personal and working lives show that many of the significant moments are happening later than they used to.

If traditional milestones were a banana in a fruit bowl - they would be so out of date they would be shrivelled and brown. An absolute health hazard!

With that said, due to societal pressures, outdated expectations and the noise of social media, it’s almost impossible not to be drawn into a false belief that certain things have to happen by a certain age or time.

I should have met ‘the one’ and be married in my twenties (In reality, marriage before the age of 34 has been declining since 1979*. *Office of National Statistics 2019)

I need to be tied to a mortgage by 30, otherwise I won’t be a proper grown-up (Actually it’s age 34 that data points is the new average age for homeownership - it used to be 26).

And the list of distracting absolutes goes on. So let’s break up with this and use the power of P.I.P’s in the process:

WORKSHEET

Thinking of the life milestone you feel occupies you the most, set out to find at least eight people that have achieved it at different ages. Alongside this, if you can, find out a bit about how their journey unfolded.

[Please download a copy to edit. Tip! Save to a ‘CORE’ folder on your desktop/save to a CORE folder in your bookmarks]