quarter-life

the idea of the quarter-life crisis is a hotly debated one. is it real? can it be defined? or are we simply a generation of perpetual adolescents looking for yet another excuse as to why we cannot be happy with our lives?

i don't know the answer. but i am familiar with the concept. i feel like i have done everything that was expected of me. i met all the requirements for average. i graduated high school with good, though not spectacular grades. grades good enough to get me into a good, though not spectacular college. i worked for 4 years to become an intellectual, a college graduate, and most importantly, employable. i found post-college employment and, though it was not the job i had expected, it was a foot in the door in corporate america, something that i was supposed to want, something that was on the list of the "right" things to do, right in between graduate college and open a 401k. i must have thought that everything would simply fall into place because i had done everything i was told to do. if you follow the directions, the end result should look just like the one on the box right?

not exactly.

at one time in my life, not so very long ago, i had an idea of what i wanted out of life and believed, however misguided, that adulthood would be the same as college-life, only with steady income, a better living situation, and less alcohol.

there is less alcohol, that is true. i don't have time to drink like i did in college. but other than that, things just have not been what i expected. i feel lost, apathetic, and hopeless and often find myself wishing more than anything that i was a college student again.

so this is where i am at. this is my story. i can think of no good reason why i am sharing it other than a slight, secret hope that perhaps putting it out there for you to see will somehow produce a solution.