QCP = quarter century project

i am 26 going on 27. perhaps that puts me outside the technical realm of being a quarter of a century years old. but to be honest i am still very much amidst the throes of this crisis that has beset all who crossed this threshold.

my point:
i view this as a public space. public space rules apply. the focus is what it means to be in a quarter century life crisis. quarter century will not be defined too stringently as i see it more as a state of mind. while each one of our experiences are unique, we are at the same time united in feelings such as utter confusion and we question what our liberal arts degrees ever did for our advancement in life. there is an intrinsic desire to find something we can be passionate about, a disillusionment of realizing that the working world is not exactly how we pictured it to be. we will speak of our struggles in determining the avenues we wish(ed) to undertake in that desperate search for something more, the way we want(ed) our peers/bosses/professors/friends/parents/significant others to view us, and the issues of the day we find interesting and speak the most to us (think: election 2008). and most importantly, how it is we see and think of ourselves and where we are at this particular moment of our 20’s. we have all been asked the question: what do you want to do with your life? but never have we felt the heat of that question beating down on us until now.

my context:
in 2005, as a somewhat seasoned twenty-five year old i decided to “grow up” and quit my job as an hourly assistant at an independent school to enter the ranks of Salaried-With-Benefits. the crisis had yet to hit me thanks to what i thought was a smart career move. the transition was a quick and painless move on my part. jokingly i told my friends i was selling out, but the truth was i was itching to earn a steady salary. visions of paid vacations and business casual mondays through fridays danced through my wardrobe dreams. it seemed so simple and financially liberating. hey i got a christmas bonus at the end of the year! now two+ years later, this job has gotten me nowhere and the sad reality is that i am no longer a recent graduate. QCC rules now apply.

how many of us can say that where we are at this moment in our lives is exactly where we imagined we’d be during our college days? i, for one, cannot. if you can, i am extremely jealous and want to talk to you immediately if not sooner.