Something Called ‘Saturn Return’ Is Actually Why Your Late 20s Are So Hard

Thought.is
Thought.is

Your 20s are typically the most important – but tumultuous – decade you’ll experience in life. Your brain is going through it’s last major growth spurt. You’ll move, change jobs, lose friends and end relationships more frequently than any other time. While this does a lot of work toward defining the person you’re going to be for the rest of your life, it can be hard to handle sometimes. Things are more uncertain and unstable than ever, which is enough to make anybody feel anxious or unsure.

And as it turns out, astrology may be playing into it, too.

Part of the turmoil in your late 20s can be attributed to something called “Saturn Return,” which typically happens between the ages of 28-31. Saturn takes 29.5 years to return to the place it was when you were born, which is why it’s called the “return.” Saturn is known as the “taskmaster” in astrology, and it brings a host of tough lessons, changes and challenges. Saturn utilizes those last few years of your 20s to make sure you’re in the right place. Anything that’s ill-fitted – be it a mindset, a relationship, a job – is going to be brought to light at this time. Thankfully, you’ll also be able to find greater peace if you are on track.

Of course, if you live for another 28 years, your next Saturn Return will happen around your late 50s (what many people refer to as ‘midlife crisis’ time). Though culture sees adulthood as beginning around age 21, and old(er) age beginning around 65, astrology sees it differently. You’re an adult at 28, and you’ve made it through to your next phase of life around 58 – when Saturn returns.

Though it sounds like you’re being condemned to struggle for no reason, nothing in the stars – or in life –presents a challenge without a purpose. Though you’ll probably feel more sobered (perhaps literally) and inclined to take a good, hard look at your life, you’ll also see more opportunities present themselves than ever before. Think of the Saturn Return as a time to reap what you have sown. You can be rewarded in many ways, for things you’ve worked years toward. You can also be held accountable for the healing you’ve put off, or the wrong relationship you’ve been stuck in, or the town you’ve outgrown. Consider this time of your life a great magnifier: it will show you what’s working, and it will show you what’s not.

Either way, Saturn will not take you to task without a reward in mind. What’s up to you is whether or not you sit and suffer, or see what’s wrong and commit to changing it. Thought Catalog Logo Mark

Brianna Wiest is the author of 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think, available here.

101-essays-that-will-change-the-way-you-think_cover_perspective-1920px

More From Thought Catalog