Valley of the Twenty-Something Guys. A Detour, Not a Destination

Sometimes single life hands you a choice: do you date the man with the stable career and a 401k… or the guy who thinks his futon counts as furniture?

In this episode, Carrie wanders into the Valley of the Twenty-Something Guys; a place filled with late-night energy, impulsive adventures, and the intoxicating charm of men who still believe Pop-Tarts are breakfast.

For a moment, it feels electric. Their youth makes you feel younger too. The nights are longer, the jokes sillier, the possibilities endless. Until you realize “endless possibilities” also means endless video game marathons, unpaid bills, and zero emotional bandwidth.

Carrie’s fling with the twenty-something crowd is fun...until she realizes she doesn’t belong there anymore. Not because she can’t keep up, but because she doesn’t want to. She’s graduated from chaos to clarity. And that’s the part that hits home in 2025.

Today, the “Valley” looks a little different. Maybe it’s not a guy with a futon, but the one who still “forgets” to text back, insists he’s not ready for labels, or treats commitment like it’s a group project he never signed up for. Different decade, same detour.

Here’s the thing: sometimes we go there for the story, for the laugh, for the reminder that we’ve still got it. And that’s okay. But the Valley isn’t meant to be home. It’s a place you pass through on the way to something better.

Because the truth is, your energy, your time, and your heart deserve more than pizza rolls and mixed signals. You don’t need to “borrow” aliveness from someone else, you already carry it with you.

And maybe that’s the ultimate takeaway: you can flirt with the Valley, you can dance in it, you can even collect a few memories from it. But when you know your worth, you’ll keep moving forward. Because single life isn’t about lowering the bar — it’s about setting it where your joy, your peace, and your power live.

So here is a question for you...where in your dating life right now are you settling for “Valley energy” when you know you’re ready for more?

Always remember to Choose You. Love You. Pick You. 

Sarai