Attention shoppers, and drivers..and children...and old people...average citizens. Have you ever bumped into an individual that looked lost? Maybe with an unkempt beard, or a wacky hair color, but also wearing nice business attire? They were probably wandering aimlessly, half-focused on the path in front of them, the other half wondering...is this even the right path?
Society...Meet twenty-somethings (for lack of a better term). Occupy Wall Street says we need to take back America, the 99%. We say we need to take on purpose, discovery, the meaning of life...and plans for Saturday night...
My twenty-something friends and I talk all the time about feeling out of place. Two years ago, under my Facebook profile, I posted in the "about me" section that I was between a rock and a hard place. Sheesh! Cliches are such faux pas; yet they exist for a reason.
I had forgotten I posted that, but after 24 months it's still very true. Only I don't just feel it because I'm on the verge of 25. I, like many others, also feel the tug and pull of "homes." I don't fully belong in Tampa, Florida, at least not yet, and the same can be said for going back to Louisville for the holidays.
Check out this interesting column from Bob Greene on CNN. Alluding to James Stewart in the classic It's a Wonderful Life, Greene wrote a tribute to great people like my parents and grandparents, along with most of my good friends, who stayed in their hometown for better and for worse. It made me think! 'Home' at the Holidays
So back to this rock and a hard place, this gap between student and adult identity. No one tells you, but after graduating college there is a HUGE adjustment period. It's not about paying your own bills. It isn't about the responsibilities of a new career, either. It deals with your own self-image. Who am I now? Take my case, for example. I got a teaching job three days before I strutted across the stage to receive my diploma. At 22 years old, I essentially had the job many wait years to acquire. My own classroom, with all my own decisions that entails. I suddenly had an all-consuming job, 60-70 hrs a week with little downtime. I suddenly had co-workers and great friends who were married, divorced, had multiple kids AND had multiple degrees. I may have been young (trust me they let me hear it), but I was one of them. I suddenly saw my age group as very different from me. It wasn't negative or positive. It was just different.
Every twenty-something goes through this, and every friend of mine has a unique story that makes them feel the same way. Out of place. Confused. Torn. Rock...meet hard place. Do we strive to be our parents? Find a spouse, get a house...have a baby, etc etc etc. What is the best career for us? Will we make enough money? Is he/she the one? Questions on top of questions!
Mark Twain once said, "The two most important days in your life are the day you were born, and the day you find out why." This is not a whiny post for people to feel sorry for us poor twenty-somethings. Each age group has its problems...this is ours! So beware when you see us bumbling around street corners. We're not lost, we just don't know where we're going. We have step one of Twain's calendar complete. Now we're just anxiously waiting step two.
