the quarter-life crisis
January 14th, 2010
I made a joke the other day about going through a quarter-life crisis but apparently this is actually a recognized phenomenon which some people think is becoming more and more prevalent. Traditional American society is unraveling completely to reveal an entirely new group of totally dumbfounded 20 somethings who, not being bound by convention, have no idea what to do with their lives. That, or they have end-goals but not a clear idea of how to achieve them.
Well, I would write more on this but my quarter-life crisis has afflicted me with a terrible laziness against which I currently have no recourse. Instead, you should read this blog about it.
Or we could ignore the link, and leave some elaborately written comment striking up a conversation/discussion of this. I’m not sure if I ever really had a life crisis such as this, I just kind of went with the flow of things and figured stuff out as life moved on. Though I’m sure you would never have guessed that with how long you’ve known me. XD
Mike, you are one of the extremely few people I’ve met in my life who seems to truly think for yourself. I’ve always known you to be a person who goes your own way, not to please people or rebel against them. I really admire that about you ^_^
The phenomenon of the quarter life crisis interests me because it seems to sprout mainly from the fact that we have a wide variety of choices, which one might think would be a good thing. But, deep down, people don’t really like having many opportunities because it forces them to experience the uncertainty of making a choice and the fear of making the wrong one.
Sometimes I think I’d actually be a happier person if I had fewer choices, like if I were amish or something. But I guess the grass is always greener
But would you really have fewer options being Amish, or would you just have an alternate set of choices? For instance, think about how many different types of wood you have to consider when building your barns. XD Well, there was quite some time where I hadn’t any idea of what it was that I was going to do. I just had no real direction tis all. Then someone suggested food and I went with it. I know I know, it’s not very glorious as most people who grew up cooking, or just knew it was what they wanted to do, or some other relatively similar concept, but it worked out for me. At least I’m not regretting it ^^ Everything happens for a reason right?
I think you probably could have done any number of things, but cooking seems to strangely suit you. My problem is that where I’m most gifted–working with people–is where I’m not sure I’d want to work. I mean, who likes people, anyway? But sometimes I wonder what my life would be if I’d decided to be an oceanographer, or a writer, or a linguist, or any number of other things I had a passing interest in. We might never know what Julie the Oceanographer would have been like, but I guess part of having a choice is willing to accept never knowing.
I think to some extent most everything suits me in some aspect. Well, aside from working with people. With as much time as I worked in retail you would of thought I’d be pretty good at yeah? Hah, can’t stand it. Though I must say, when I worked at CSUMB I actually enjoyed interacting with the students far more than most of my co-workers. Though I guess it’s different when you see all the same “customers” at work, other than anyone who happens to wander in. On another note, the beauty of having so many choices is that you can always change if what you’re doing isn’t working out. It may not be easy, or the wisest idea (depending on circumstances) but you always have that option. As far as working with people, having chosen psychology (at least that what I recall you studying anyway) you at least deal with people on a one on one basis at set times, and location, which makes everything much nicer.