Quarter Life Opportunity

By Meredith Rines, MBA, CFP® on August 28, 2013

Ever read something that just hits you like a ton of bricks? And you’re left standing (or in my case sitting) there like “wow, that is so me.” That happened to me the other day when I ran across fellow blogger Cat’s article in the Huffington Post called “Quarter Life Crisis or Quarter Life Opportunity.”

I have been following Catsince she started, but those days I had another blog and was pretty quiet on the blogosphere. I’ve seen her grow into this great blogger with great posts and this article is no different.

I have been saying for years (well at least the past 2) that I am going through a Quarter Life Crisis. I do not know which way my life is going to turn, I am panicked that I do not have a “career” yet, and I do not own a home. My “crisis” hit on my 25th birthday, I went out with my best friend and got rip roaring drunk. I woke up with not only a headache, but also a knot on my forehead. I only remember bits and pieces of the night including the start, the middle and a random 40+ year old lady telling me that she’s been clubbing for over 20 years.

Since that night, I have worked to find a purpose in my life. I did not want to be someone who had been clubbing for 20+ years, and as a girl that hardly went out in my early twenties I highly doubted it, but still – it was scary folks! I am lucky that I found someone to share my life with, someone that deals with my panic moments of being an adult with no career who thinks that defines my purpose.

I work hard, I do. I am willing to be the first one in the door and the last one out. I am willing to take all the responsibility that I can for my workplace. I take calls from angry clients that do not understand something, I make the hard calls that need to be made, I get more stuff done in an 8-hour period compared to majority of people I know; however, it does not feel like a career. I am not where I wanted or more importantly, where I thought I would be by my late twenties.

However, I need to stop looking at it as a “crisis.” The position I am in is good. I am still young, I do not have small children to feed or shelter, just two furry dogs that I think are my children. I am educated and love school so the idea of furthering my education always makes me happy. I have family and a fiance that will support me. I love all aspects of business and being creative, so the window is wide open for me to pursue a plethora of options.

Why do we, as mid to late twenty-somethings think that we are not living up to our potential when our lives are not what we dreamed when we were 12? This, my friends, is not a bad thing. It’s an opportunity to create the life that we want, even if you are like me and are not sure what that life looks like.

There is not one job or one career out there that will satisfy every aspect of what makes me happy. Maybe that is what the world is evolving into, individuals with multiple jobs and not the typical 8-5, Monday through Friday. Perhaps our generation will be much more fulfilled than the previous generation. Our generation will be able to have a healthy balance between family, work, and play because we will design the jobs that we WANT to work around the life that we WANT to live.

I know that when I go to work each day and feel that I have a made a difference, am happy with my overall performance, and have moderate amounts of stress (because I am weird and like some stress) then I know that I will have found my calling. Until that moment, I will continue working hard at my 9-5, designing prints for my beloved Etsy shop, and creating for this little blog of mine.

Cheers to the opportunity that is in front of us!