“By 25 you should...” was written by someone who didn’t know you. Cross it out.

Age-based checklists are generic by construction. They were assembled from averages and from whoever happened to be talking loudest, and they cannot account for your start, your circumstances, or what you actually want. The pressure they create is real even though the authority behind them is not.

Write down the deadline that has been sitting on you, then ask where it came from and who benefits from you believing it. Keep the parts that match something you genuinely want. Let the rest go quietly, since there is nobody on the other end to argue with.