25 going on 26

Today I celebrate turning 26, and to say I am in a mild panic is probably an understatement.

I have probably mentioned before in previous posts my apprehension at getting older. I think it is due to the fact that when you are a child, aged 10 or 11, you have these great plans that by the time you are 25 you will be married, have children and a house. Only to get to that age and think - I don't feel old enough to have children, or I don't have a boyfriend to get married. Where is Mr Right?

I sometimes panic that I haven't done enough with my life as I edge closer to 30. I still live at home, due to circumstances out of the my control - two lots of redundancies, debt and a student boyfriend, which means I am not married and don't have children.

I do have a wonderful boyfriend who I have been with for six and a half years, and after a lot of false starts I am finally in the career I have always wanted as a journalist.

In a society as well with a lot of boomerrang kids having to go back home due to the recession I know my plight is not uncommon, but the devil that is facebook can sometimes make the green-eyed monster rear its ugly head when you see what others have got.

I suppose in many ways it is swings and roundabouts, ok they may have a house but they have a lousy job. They may have the kids and husband but they live in some horrible bedsit. You can't compare your life to others as you don't know what is around the corner and someone might look at your and think wow what an amazing boyfriend, job, car etc she has.

I am not usually one of those people that looks at what other people have and start to feel down but sometimes when I realise I am four years away from 30 I do find it hard.

I think it is because the last five years since leaving uni have gone in a flash so I start to panic that the four years to 30 will be the same and I will still be at home, in the same job and the same position I am now.

I know I am being silly and once I realise that after turning 26 I will  feel exactly the same way I did when I turned 22, 0r 24 I'll get over it.

Failing that me and my friend have decided we are both going to tell people we are 23, if we both do it no one will suspect a thing.