Friday 30 December 2011

One Step at a Time...

Okay, so my tag line states that I am "surviving the quarter life crisis one step at a time" but what is the quarter life crisis...?

The quarter life crisis is the twenties version of the midlife crisis. You reach your mid-twenties and that awkward age where you're no longer a teenager and you realise that a road of responsibilities lays before you. My "crisis" came out of the blue. I was living very comfortably... I was at the start of a career I'd worked very hard to secure, I was in a long term relationship, I didn't have any children but I had a cat, a mortgage and a car on finance. I was very grown up. My crisis manifested itself in the form of panic. I asked myself, at the age of twenty five, if I was 100% satisfied with where I was and the answer was no. So I moved out, booked several holidays and have been reflecting on what I really want ever since. (I've also lost the cat - not on purpose! He went missing after I moved home :( and I mourn his loss everyday)

Being in your twenties is difficult:
1) Can you afford to move out?
2) Is the job your in paying you enough, satisfying you, challenging you?
3) Is he/ she the one?
4) Have you traveled?
5) Tick, tick, tick your biological clock is ticking!
6) Your single and all your friends are browsing through copies of the next directory furnishing their first homes while your secretly looking on POF.
7) Facebook envy - everyone is so much hotter, cooler, and hipper than you are (yes I used the word hip!)
8) Can you afford to do anything!!!... pay rent, buy a new outfit from Topshop, drink cocktails, attend birthday meals, get your hair, nails and tan done and still pay for petrol?
9) Are you satisfying your responsibilities as a daughter, son, sister, brother, grandchild, aunt, uncle...?
10) One word... GRAVITY!!!

If you have read this list and not cried - WELL DONE! The thing is we try to do it all, be it all, have it all. We compare ourselves to Penny Perfect who works two jobs, volunteers for charity, makes her own jam, cushions and clothes while planning mini breaks with Peter Perfect and keeping successfully in touch with all her friends in a cloud of effortlessness!

Is the quarter life crisis a modern phenomena brought about by constantly judging and comparing ourselves to others through Facebook, Twitter, blogs, magazines and reality TV? To be fair people have always tried to keep up with the Jones' but it was a bit easier to do when you didn't have 900+ Jones' on Facebook to keep up with!

So yes, I am surviving my "crisis" one step at a time even if it means being back in the boxroom. And yes, the grass might not be greener on the other side. But...

“Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” -Marilyn Monroe


2 comments:

  1. Great Post...I too am going through the Quarter life crisis and after turning the wrong side of 25 in December I need all the support I can get! xxx

    Thanks for the follow :) x

    love-leigh-leigh.blogspot.com

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  2. Thanks Leigh Georgina. Who said growing old/ up was easy?! x

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