Because this article from MX is really good (and I can relate) I just want to share 'For what it's worth' section (August 9, 2011)
(oh yeah, I typed it coz there's nothing available to copy and paste... ugh!)
'How did I get here? It feels like everyone else has things figured out while I bump around without direction.'
The landscape of my twentysomething experience has been a rough terrain to navigate: a jagged shoreline of unmet deadlines and milestones reached but unfulfilling, mountainous heights of romantic love followed by chasms of utter heartbreak, rushing rivers of excitement and adventure interspersed with the odd sheep filled paddock of immobility, a never-ending forest of uncertainty and indecision.
If it was a country, it would look like New Zealand.
I'm 29 and single, highly educated but lacking a stable job. I'm certainly not where my 16-year-old self thought I would be. She would have panicked to see me so close to 30 and unmarried, confused as to why I hadn't yet attained a creative and well-paid executive position.
How did I get here? It feels like everyone else has things figured out while I bump around without direction.
Is this just me? To ease my mind, I turned to where the rest of my generation turns for information, socialization, solace: Facebook.
A quick questionnaire messaged to all my "friends" in their 20s returned an overwhelming and reassuring chorus of confused, ambivalent, intelligently cynical voices that were, despite everything, optimistic for the future.
The idea of a "quarter-life-crisis" was common and two themes especially repeated throughout the responses:
Firstly, no generation gas gad so many choices.
When there are an infinite number of paths laid out before you, it is hard to choose just one and so the result is to stand rooted to the spot in anxiety.
Our parents had clear and binding expectations.
We have experienced first-hand where this has led them - into unhappy marriages and rigid career paths - and they are the first to encourage us to do differently.
We're listening. But this lack of guiding influence over a life course is equal parts blessing and burden.
Secondly, we are learning more about ourselves.
Our evolving sense of self often clashes with our search for the perfect mate.
If the average age of marriage continues on its current trend, it will soon be well over 30.
Rather than a mate to simply have children and share finances with, we look for a partner who will support and encourage us personally, stand by us unwaveringly, someone who shares our lifestyle and some beliefs, all the while maintaining a positive outlook, being reasonably attractive and making us laugh.
Since we're both choosier than in the past, it's naturally taking us a little longer to settle.
We Gen-Yers are a product of our times.
A my 20s steal away with each passing day, I look forward my 30s as optimistically as the rest of my generation.
Hopefully, it will be a more even-keeled setting.
Maybe the precarious negotiated neutrality of marriage, the alpine wonders of motherhood, a linguistic and cultural blend of many friendships, yes, a scenery more reminiscent of, say, Switzerland.
