It is 2am and I am listening to the Goo Goo Dolls (one of my favorite bands whom I did get to see a few years back).
I just decided that I wanted to start a blog and here I am. The funny thing is, you would never realize how hard it actually is to have a conversation with a computer screen. I have never been one to express my feelings, and to be perfectly honest, I never expected to do it publicly for the world to see. I guess this is just a leap in the right direction for me and it also happens to be my New Years resolution although I sometimes find myself never sticking to them. Hopefully this year will be a new beginning.
Your 20 something years are supposed to be the best time of your life. You discover who you are, what you want in life, and the passions that you never knew you had. You graduate from college, fall in love, get married, start a family, and have a career that you've always wanted. You become a grown up. But my question to you is this, what happens if the idea you have for your future doesn't end up happening the way you planned it to? By all means I am not trying to sound discouraging, but what if the checklist you have made for yourself isn't checking itself off. What's next?
I chose to title my blog my 20 something manifesto because I myself am a 20 something struggling with these same issues. I once heard a woman by the name of Christine Hassler speak at a seminar, and her book is titled the 20 something manifesto. She helped change my life and I would like to continue to pass on her wisdom about life and its tough issues to you. Maybe a little insight into my life and how I got to the place I am now will help...
I graduated from Eureka High School in May of 2008. I had known since my junior year of high school that I would be attending Lindenwood University on a scholarship from the Miss Missouri pageant. I also had known from the age of 5 that I wanted to become a teacher like my Aunt Cherie. I had been in a serious relationship for over 3 years. I had a checklist for my future and I expected it to go exactly as planned. Boy was I wrong.
Just to give you an idea of how wrong I really was..
In my short two and a half year college career, I managed to switch schools EVERY semester and changed my major not once, not twice, but a whopping 7 times!!!
Through all of this, what I like to call madness, I had no idea who I was, what I wanted to do in life, or how I was going to get there. I was experiencing a HUGE expectation hangover.
Expectation Hangover: arise when things don't go as expected, when we are unable to match our expectations for ourselves, or when something unexpected (and typically undesirable) happens.
Have you ever felt like you were stuck in a rut? You have trouble focusing? You constantly are obsessing on the past? You are losing hope that you will ever figure out what you actually want or how to get it?
Well folks, I hate to be the messenger but you are experiencing an expectation hangover. A quarter-life crisis is normal. For all you checklisters out there, ditch the habit now. Trust me. YOU WILL SURVIVE.
Whether it be finding yourself, discovering your passion, careers, relationships, family, friends, finance, I am going to share my wisdom with you.
So stay tuned...if I haven't put you to sleep yet ;) I will leave you with a piece of advice until next time...
As long as we are committed to learning from our experiences, there are no mistakes! Life is like the yellow brick road. There are many surprises ahead, but eventually we do get home. So sit back and enjoy the ride.
(Oh, by the way, I am the new Miss Missouri International 2011!!!)
