Why I'm writing this

Some have called these our "odyssey" years--the years in which we discover ourselves and our passions. Others have said that this is when we should settle down--we've graduated college and now it is time to get a "real job," get married, and start reproducing. However, with all these opinions about this stage in life no one has told us the struggles and doubts that we will have.

When we were in high school and college we were bombarded with "all the fun" we would have or what majors we should choose, but the moment we graduated, from whatever prestigious 4 years institution, we stepped into the land where advice was something we gave not received. Are the twenty-somethings the magic age where we are supposed to have enough knowledge stored up that we can get through life?

I currently have friends all over the place. I have friends who graduated (with honors of course), found a lucrative job in a near by city, and settled into a life with old roommates, 9-5, and weekends on the town. I have friends who picked up their lives and ventured north or west to a major city, found a job that paid the bills, and spent there weekends at the most chic of parties. I have friends who went on to get advanced degrees, whether to avoid the “real world slump” (as I will call it) or because they are extreme over achievers. I have the friends who were underachievers (or just smarter than the rest) who are still in college “Living the Dream,” I even have the friends who packed a suitcase and hopped a plane to a foreign country, and seem to lead a life of adventure and discovery. But there seems to be a commonality that we all share right now. We all have no f-ing idea what we will be doing 10 years from now. It is here were we envy those friends who have “settled down.” These are the friends that found their soul mate, got married 1 or 2 years out of college and seem to be living the white picket fence dream. These friends that we feel have it all together and know the meaning of life. However, some of my married friends have shattered this jealousy I have by telling me they are just as confused as I am.

So if all these paths lead to the same doubts, then what is the answer? And how can we just be…just live? No one told us that this was life. That doubt and confusion would cloud our very existence.

This is simply a place where I vent my frustrations, my friends frustrations, and in general, the frustrations of the post-college 20-something generation; a generation that struggles with the line between chasing dreams and practicality. I do not presume to say which is the right path or which will lead to the most success or happiness, rather, I just aim to figure out this doubt and confusion.