They include but are not limited to:
- Margaritas
- Staying out late
- Driving
However, sometimes being an "adult" is not all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes I feel like I've been thrown head first into adultdom and that I really don't know anything. Or what I thought I knew, I really don't know.
I like lists and post it notes and planners. I do not enjoy college/real world limbo. I want to know my place. I'm searching for somewhere to fit in now that I'm equipped with a college degree and looming student loan payments.
As of right now, I don't have a steady job...or man...or place of my own. I do, however, have a cat...though that really isn't helping my cause right now. I look around at friends who are married, have children, and have a house. They have it "together" as far as society's standards are concerned. I guess I could have had those things, but I don't want to settle (and dear God I am not ready to handle a small child right now...it's a big enough job taking care of myself).
The other thing is that it seems everyone has an idea about how my life should play out. Where I should work or who I should date or where I should move. Sometimes it makes me want to scream. I am a firm believer in creating your own destiny, your own path. Yes, I appreciate suggestions and advice. No, I would not like you to write me a five year plan.
For the first time in my life, I have no idea about my next step. It is both scary and exhilarating...but mostly scary. I have the whole world in front of me. The potential to do something great or royally fuck up.
In any case, I can't stop time. I must keep moving forward.
This is my life. My plans...to be continued.
I don't think anyone can accuse you of being a slacker, Allison. It's a tough job market to deal with, and I know that finding a job is almost like having a full-time job itself. Trust that with your efforts, it will pay off in the end. Good luck!
ReplyDelete-Steph
Apparently what you and I are both feeling is a quarter life crisis. Wish I could offer advice, but just know you're not alone!
ReplyDeleteHey it's Abby from La Salle (wanted to mention that since I don't know how this will sign) Anyway, I can definitely relate to, like, 99% of what you're saying. Very little in my life is steady (man, place of my own, job a little bit but not much)...and my number of friends our age who are engaged/married/having kids/living in their own houses is growing exponentially. And I, like you, appreciate suggestions/advice about my life, but I DO NOT appreciate people telling me where I should work, what type of guys I should be dating, where I should live, etc. I'm in the process of making my own path (because it's mine and only mine to make) and everyone who thinks they're helping with their "advice" is actually frustrating me even more...and the fact that so little of the path is steady yet makes it that much more ridiculous...but we've got great heads on our shoulders and there are a million other reasons I could list why nothing will get in the way of us doing what we want to do (even though it may take a little longer because most things about the world in general suck right now haha) I'm starting to think that any of us would be INCREDIBLY lucky to have all three things going smoothly at once (man, housing, work) but if we can roll with the punches, make the best of what we've got, ease away the stress with the occasional margarita(s), and remember that we have what it takes to get what we want...we'll all make it out of this quarterlife crisis just fine :)
ReplyDeleteSorry if that sounded like a bit of a rant, it's just that everything you wrote touched on things going on in my life right now, and I know you're so good at what you do (and whatever you will continue to do) and you're all-around just a fabulous chick, and all of my peers (myself included) seem to be going through this quarterlife crisis (whether they're the ones who have it "together" or the ones who "don't") so I feel like if I tell other people "things will work out for us" maybe it will help me believe it a little bit more, too :)
love and miss you allison!!
thank you all for your kind words!! glad to know i'm not the only one. fingers crossed for all of us!
ReplyDeleteabby - seriously, your message totally made my day. we are swell ladies and the best is yet to come. miss and love you too, girl!!
you don't just have margaritas, you have showeritas, you don't just drive you drive a european car, and you have A Gary, not just a Cat. So that right there is all already a step up above the average :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think I appreciate, very much, the general societal (ooh I'm sounding fancy for 8:45am) viewpoint that those of us with steady boyfriends/husbands, children, mortgages (or, conversely, high powered jobs and sleeping around) have it together or are embracing life properly. They have to have their own problems, too. I'm not ready for a kid, or even marriage, though I'd take a steady fella, and the apparent other option would really run the risk of many STDs and very late office hours.
And don't you even worry about a 5 year plan. My grandmother's always telling me she had one. And my mom is always trying to pinpoint when I'll get married. Well, it's easy for them, they were both married by 23 and nobody walked into THEIR college classes and said "oh, by the way, you guys are studying journalism, and newspapers are dying, so...yeah, good luck with that." (hi, pr and marketing instead). Nobody from another generation, or even our own, should be able to tell us how to live because we're facing so many different things.
*I* happen to think you're doing fine. I would tell you if I thought you were screwing up somewhere. I know it sucks, and I know it's hard, because I feel the same way a lot (as you know) but it's gotta all fall in line at some point. It has to. I can't tell myself otherwise. It must. And it will. And maybe it won't all be like we thought it would be, or what we tried to plan out, but if I'm learning anything it's that you can't plan the future. Beyond deciding to get up in the morning and do a good job at work, etc, there's not much else you can do to control how things go. I just talked to Erin about this in the ocean the other day. There's nothing we can do, really, except live each 24 hour chunk of time the best we can and just try to have blind faith that it'll all work out well. Look at birds, the birds seem happy, right? Well, if God takes care of the birds, He'll take care of us.
/endrant
love you <3
Allison you are the most hardworking person I know. You have awesome credentials, I wish I had worked as hard as you. But I know what you mean about this limbo
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