Thursday, August 22, 2013

I am in my mid-twenties (and other recent realizations)

You may have inferred from my recent lack of posts that a lot of things have been going on in my life outside of this blog. Things like realizing that I am in my mid-twenties, don't have a career path set in stone, and being a little bit worried that I am totally not worried about it.

When I was ten, I wanted to be a lawyer. I wanted to be a lawyer, in fact, until the night before my Constitutional Law final exam during my sophomore year of college. I had this 3 AM-Diet Coke jitter-fueled realization that if I had seriously wanted to be a lawyer, I wouldn't have been cramming because I would have been studying the material all year long.

What's more, I realized that at 25, I wanted to have a life of balance. I didn't want to be fresh out of law school, working 16-18 hour days, and staring down a mountain of debt. What I wanted when I grew up was to be happy, healthy, and balanced.

Try putting that down as a career ambition: happy, healthy, balanced.

Most people have told me that it makes me sound like I have no idea what I want to do with my life. I disagree. I think understanding that life is about more than just a career is a good start to knowing what you want to do with your life. I also think that most twenty-somethings are a lot like me: semi-blindly pursuing a passion, a dream, or an interest and hoping with everything they've got that they're moving in the right direction. Not many people at age 24 know exactly what the rest of their lives will look like.

To put it in football speak (go dawgs), my twenties feel like mostly Hail Mary's, and not a whole lot of rushing for small yardage.

But, honestly, what's the point in playing small ball? If there ever was a time to go big, it's now. Your twenties are a time to fervently and unapologetically pursue whatever makes you come alive at the moment because your twenties are (seriously) all about you.

So here I am, in my mid-twenties, and (to answer your question about what is going on in my life) I just quit my day job. I quit because it was a great opportunity with a fantastic company but it was not the best fit for me. Because even though I don't know exactly what I want to do, I do know exactly who I want to be and how I want to live, and I know that I deserve to be happy, healthy, and balanced.

And because my mid-twenties is just as good a time as any to start all over again. Only this time, with more yoga, running, and laughter. And probably just a few more stumbles along the way.