Sophie Clarke: Being in your 20s in Northern Ireland is nothing like the sitcoms promised

I don’t know about anyone else but every time I open social media lately, I seem to be met with another major life announcement.

Engagements. Pregnancy reveals. Pictures of freshly-painted front doors accompanied by keys and the caption “Homeowners”.

And if it is not that, it is marathon medals, Strava routes or some impossibly disciplined 5am wellness routine.

Part of me is, admittedly, jealous of these engaged, Lycra-clad homeowners. But another part of me has become increasingly aware of the people we see online far less often – those quietly struggling with how unexpectedly lonely adulthood can feel.

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For all the conversation around the pressures facing people in their twenties – unaffordable housing, insecure work and rising living costs – we speak far less about friendship and how dramatically it changes with age.

Read more: Sophie Clarke: Why Northern Ireland struggles to back its own........

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