Before she was mourning the state of today's music, Joni Mitchell was using the power of song to dole out wisdom. In one of her biggest hits, "Big Yellow Taxi," she offers: "Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?"
That's exactly how many women feel in their 20s — and it's because so many women who have aged out of the bracket won't let you forget that it's the best time of your life. Your 20s, they say, are your prime years — you just don't know it yet. "Your beauty will fade," they warn. "Your body won't work like it used to once you turn 30," they cry. "Start using anti-wrinkle creams." A dinner with your aunts can feel like a whirlwind of cautionary tales.
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As a result, we're all under insane amounts of pressure to carpe diems and dodge FOMO around every corner. And, we'd be lying if we said that pressure wasn't self-imposed, too.
While we're still riding the New Year's wave, it seems like a good time to freshen up our perspective. Namely, we need to re-evaluate the way we talk to and about ourselves, the way we set goals for our personal and professional lives, and the way we measure beauty. Ahead, 23 celebs who'll put your 20s in perspective for you. In other words: Relax.
Photo: BEImages/Gregory Pace.
Photo: BEImages/Matt Baron.
Photo: BEImages/Gregory Pace.
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Photo: BEImages/Matt Baron.
Photo: BEImages/Matt Baron.
Photo: REX USA/Boothnation/BAFTA/Rex.
Photo: BEImages/Jim Smeal.
Photo: REX USA/Everett Collection.
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Photo: BEImages/Gregory Pace.
Photo: BEImages/Gregory Pace.
Photo: BEImages/Jim Smeal.
Photo: BEImages/Matt Baron.
Photo: REX USA/Erik Pendzich.
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Photo: REX USA/Peter Brooker.
This is gonna make you want to hire a comedian as a life coach: “You’ll be fine. You’re 25. Feeling [unsure] and lost is part of your path. Don’t avoid it. See what those feelings are showing you and use it. Take a breath. You’ll be okay. Even if you don’t feel okay all the time.” — Louis C.K., Untitled
Photo: REX USA/David Fisher/Rex.
Photo: BEImages/Matt Baron.
Photo: REX USA/Rob Latour.
Photo: REX USA/David Fisher/Rex.
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Photo: REX USA/Stewart Cook.
Photo: REX USA/Everett Collection.
Photo: Courtesy of Comedy Central
Photo: REX USA/Charles Sykes.
Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell is basically an expert on being single in your 20s. “There are worse things than being 35, single, and female in New York. Like: Being 25, single, and female in New York. It's a rite of passage few women would want to repeat. It's about sleeping with the wrong men, wearing the wrong clothes, having the wrong roommate, saying the wrong thing, being ignored, getting fired, not being taken seriously, and generally being treated like shit. But it's necessary," she writes. Go ahead and stick that on your cubicle wall.
Photo: BEImages/Jim Smeal.
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Best Life Quotes For Your 20s - Tina Fey, Amy Poehler