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Typically, the mid twenties are when "life" starts to happen: you graduate college, go to grad school maybe, get your first "real" job and first "real" apartment, get married, maybe have a baby. What milestones are you hitting and which ones did you think you'd hit by now?
For me, I took a break from college and have never managed to get back. I've done the marriage thing and have now got an entry level job in my desired career (arts administration). With the exception of the college degree, I think I'm about on track.
I graduated college over a year ago (BS chemical engineering), have been working as an environmental consultant since then, got married a few months ago, moved, bought a house, adopted a baby kitty and the dog that came with the marriage. So yea, quite a lot for this quarter life aged girl. Heh.
I went the college route but was recently dumped out into the real world (in which I CANNOT WEAR HOODIES, despite the cannot-feel-fingers-as-typing coldness of my office, grr). It's actually going pretty well so far - my boyfriend rules for also managing to secure gainful employment and moving in with me... but our other friends seem to be either still stuck in the college life or trying to prolong it, moving back home and such (that alone is not bad, but the way they seem to be doing it is the denial-y way, not the saving money way).
That was rambly, but then, that's probably a good prep in case you should investigate my blog. *be warned*
I bring up the friend thing not to be randomly judgemental, but because not having the people around me doing the same thing makes me freak out about it that much more. My older sister's starting out with proper work now, which is awesome, but she should have done it earlier so that I wouldn't worry about everything so much.
Do you guys find that it's hard to maintain close friendships if people are going different ways (like having babies if you don't, etc), or is the shared past enough to get you through?
Because the majority of my friends are from college, we're predominantly in similar career places and paths at this point, with leeway given for our age differences. However, changes seem imminent, especially because we all have wildly disparate attitudes on the baby thing, ranging from "ASAP" to "once we own a house" to "OMG, never." I know that in about three years it'll be impossible to get all of us together for one outing, so I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts.
I just turned 23 on Monday, so I'm not sure if I qualify for this group yet. I graduated with a journalism degree and have been working as a reporter for a little over a year -- something I never really wanted to be, in spite of my degree. I wanted to edit, not write. But now I'm not so sure what I want to move on to, and the guy I thought I was going to marry broke up with me. Pathetic, I know.
I guess I'm just trying to figure out what I want my life to be and how to go about getting it once I figure it out.
Nice to meet you all! :)
It's funny, the people who mean to be journalists hardly ever turn out that way, and the opposite is often also true. I was always the hard-core journalism student in college, yet now I'm in the corporate life as an account executive, whereas my corporate internship buddy is now the entertainment editor for a regional paper.
Communications has a funny sense of balance that way, but if anything is true about it it's that you can always - eventually - find your way to the thing you truly want to be doing.
I took longer than I expected to finish college. Just kept taking interesting classes. I'm living the relatively carefree life of a married couple with no kids. That'll probably change before too long, though, so I'm enjoying it while it lasts so I can enjoy kids when they come!
I'm in a late stage of my crisis - possibly even past it. Now that I'm in my twenty-sixth year I was hired for my dream job, started my dream band, and got engaged to my dream girl (the latter two since (and somewhat as a result of) the last NaBloPoMo).
It all might sound rosy and wonderful, but I had to work my ass off for all of my twenty-fourth and -fifth years to get everything in place for this happiness. I definitely went through a crisis! But. every crisis represents danger and opportunity, and in each of my crises i chose to focus on the opportunities rather than dwell on the dangers. (I blogged about it here.)
Now I'm contemplating a wedding, a house, and some sort of post-undergrad education. Heavy stuff, but after making it through the last year or two I'm sure they're all challenges I can surmount.
I graduated college, got married, worked a crappy job, and then moved to China. We'll be back in the states next year. Trying to apply for grad school when you're on the other side of the world ain't easy!
The worst part of the "crisis" for me was the post-college slump. I wouldn't say that college was a fantastic time for me, but it certainly provided built-in friends and activities, both mental and physical. My 22nd and 23rd years were the hardest so far. Now I am 25, still in a bit of a dead-end job but the hours are much better than before, and it is slightly more interesting (not to mention the job security and benefits are pretty awesome). This year, on my birthday, I moved in with my boyfriend, so that is a big step as far as starting a "real" life. We live in the nicest place I've ever lived, too, which goes a long way toward making one feel stable. This is the best it's ever been for me, and I have it on good authority that after 26 it gets better.
I've done some college and haven't gone back and now I'm hitting the marriage aspect. I honestly thought I'd have hit the married and be on the baby-making milestone by now, but crap happens.
I don't think I'm on track at all. I think I started grownup life too early. I feel like I should be ready to retire! I've been married 6 yrs, have a 5 yr old and just got caught up in the marriage/mommy thing and didn't finish college. Now I'm a stay at home mommy after working non stop for over 8 yrs. I'm at a loss and only 27!!!!!
Did the college thing, did a year at NYU for grad school, ended up deciding to move across country for a change of scenery and am currently living in Northern California. I still haven't really found a full-time first job - I've just been working all sorts of odd jobs here and there, but for the first time in my life, I'm in a somewhat healthy relationship, despite it being long-distance. And I'd like to echo the individual who said being 22 and 23 is the hardest time ever. It definitely has been thus far (I'm only 23).
I finally figured out what I wanted to do about 2 years after graduating undergrad and bouncing from job to job. Now I am 25 and student teaching in my own classroom and will (hopefully) be certified by January and finishing up the last 3 classes of my Masters by August '08. I am living with my boyfriend of 3+ years, ideally getting married in the next 2 years and starting on a family. So, I'm on the cusp of all things adult and freaking out about it!
Same story here to the letter except instead of art administration I'm free-lancing in journalism and graphic design. I thought I would have a fabulous apartment in a fun city (Moscow? New York? Stockholm? Lima?), a fiery relationship and a non-time-consuming job. Instead, I live in the quiet SoCal suburbs, have a mortgage, have a marriage to troubleshoot instead of running from (a preference learned from the fast and furious affairs I was used to having) and a non-job kind of job. It's not half bad at all, but nothing, nothing like I thought it would be!
