Twenty-five isn’t old. It’s early. Most people are still figuring it out well past that.

Twenty five feels like a deadline because it is the age at which people in films appear to have everything arranged. In practice it is the early part, the stretch where most people are still changing their minds about work, cities and who they want nearby. Very little is settled, including for the ones who look settled.

Stop treating the next few years as an exam you have to pass by a particular birthday. Choose the next step instead of the whole plan: one course, one job, one move. You will get to revise, and revising is ordinary rather than evidence of a mistake.