Why it’s totally fine to be selfish in your 20s

Older generations love to call our generational selfish, lazy, entitled – a whole bunch of insults which I don’t necessarily disagree with. I agree that we are selfish but believe we totally have every right to be and it’s not a bad thing. If there’s any time you should be thinking of yourself and putting yourself first – it’s now.

Being selfish doesn’t have to be a negative thing

The word is always labelled with a negative connotation, but it doesn’t have to be. Embrace the word and everything that it stands for – as long as you’re self-aware and your selfishness isn’t impacting the people around you, go on and think of yourself.

It helps you to figure yourself out and what you want

Being focussed on you and what you want is important in your early 20s, because it will help shape the rest of your 20s. Don’t feel guilty about wanting to talk about yourself, your goals and what you want to do with your life to your friends – chances are they’ll want to do the same. You can benefit from their advice, which might offer another perspective from an outsider’s perspective.

Now is your time to travel

It’s the time of your life where you’ll have the least amount of commitments and things to tie you down. If you’re at uni, consider travelling in your break, going on exchange or taking a gap year. You can’t be worried about leaving other people behind like your friends or your partner – you can do you and make long-distance work.

You’ll get ahead in your career or life in general

If you put yourself first, you’ll be able to get so much further ahead than if you were to put everyone else’s lives before your own. It’s an amazing quality to be selfless and care for others, but don’t let this stop you from reaching your full potential. If you need to put your career first for a year, you shouldn’t have to apologise for that.

Trying to pursue your passion and dream career often means you’ll have to sacrifice your social life at times, but if it’s what you want then don’t let what other people think get in the way of that. If you’d prefer to travel and leave your friends behind, you’ll still be ahead with a whole new perspective and life experience.

Having ‘you time’ will only benefit your mental health

There’s nothing wrong with turning down plans when you need it to have a night by yourself. Your friends will probably try to coerce you into coming out and might not understand when you don’t want to – but it’s important to think of yourself and say no. Giving yourself a day to chill out, have a breather and do the bare minimum is so important for your wellbeing.