WISH UPON A STAR

Every parents felt that they have one ultimate responsibility for their child that is to help and assist them in any way possible till they get their DEGREE. Great! Then they are on their way. NOT!!(Borat style) I remember reading an article about ‘quarter-life crisis’ back when I was still in college counting the days when I’ll be in my graduation robe and was wondering if I would ever have to encounter such experience.
Well my guess is I’m facing it right now.

Here’s what I got from Wikipedia:-
Characteristics of quarter-life crisis include:

• feeling "not good enough" because one can’t find a job that is at one’s academic/intellectual level
• frustration with relationships, the working world, and finding a suitable job or career
• confusion of identity
• insecurity regarding the near future
• insecurity regarding present accomplishments
• re-evaluation of close interpersonal relationships
• disappointment with one’s job
• nostalgia for university or college life
• tendency to hold stronger opinions
• boredom with social interactions
• financially-rooted stress
• loneliness
• desire to have children
• a sense that everyone is, somehow, doing better than you

These emotions and insecurities are not uncommon at this age, nor at any age in adult life. In the context of the quarter-life crisis,
however, they occur shortly after a young person – usually an educated
professional, in this context – enters the "real world". After entering
adult life and coming to terms with its responsibilities, some
individuals find themselves experiencing career stagnation and/or
extreme insecurity. This can be after securing a first job or straight
out of college/university. The individual often realizes the real world
is tougher, more competitive and less forgiving than they imagined.
Furthermore, the qualifications they have spent so much time and money
earning are not likely to prepare them for this disillusionment.

As it turns out the term ‘quarter life crisis’ was originated by 2 twentysomething young adults who, just like many other young adults facing the ‘real world’ and came to realise how naive they were when suddenly harsh reality hit them right in their face.

Some orthodox thinkers refuse to accept such a term as an extention from the much raved ‘mid-life crisis’ for they felt that it’s just another phase that all young adults need to go through and it’s a matter of figuring out what they want.

However one can’t deny the prevalence of this so-called ‘crisis’ especially in today’s society. Being a young adult in the 21st century is getting more and more challenging. From Who’s carrying the latest LV bag to who’s using the latest, slimmest, lightest and whatever ‘est’ there is gadget to who’s driving the latest whatever series car to who just came back from some exotic holiday getaway. Today’s measurement of success has become so superficial that If you don’t dress to impress you are a marked loser. It’s all about the look. Very typical coming from a Malaysian where it’s always ‘Isi takde takpa, janji rupa mau ada’.

Expectations, Choices, Demands, Needs, Necessity, Wants, Desire..all of these jumble up making everything in the ‘future’ look cloudy. So is it because we the new generation are just too arrogant and too full of ourselves that is causing this so-called ‘quarter-life crisis’ and that it’s all self-inflicted?

When I told my BF that I seem to be at a cross road or maybe many cross roads where I’m presented with so many options to choose from and I do get confused or maybe a tiny weeny lil bit of greediness involve,and he said ‘what nonsense!!’ At your age there shouldn’t be a cross road, you can afford to do whatever you want. It’s (in his words) CHEUNGing ALL THE WAY time. This is the time you should learn from experience, trial and error to discover ones real potential by pushing oneself to the limit. Speaking like a TRUE OLD MAN.

In a way it’s quite true, it’s better to have more choices than to be stuck with one or worst still NONE. So there’s no valid ‘crisis’ I would suppose. Yet what amount to a ‘crisis’ is still fairly subjective. Being a relatively newbie in the working force all i can say is a lot of patience is needed and always be humble and never arrogant. It’s always better to be an underdog than fall short of expectation. At times the world seem to be against you and the people that you love don’t seem to understand the hardship that you are going through, cry, shout, talk to some one, vent out your frustration but remember to keep your head up high and keep moving forward in hope that one day you could prove them all wrong.

OK i know after this I’m going to get an earful of my BF’s ‘I told you…’

Argghh…shut up you face or I’ll kill your face..

This entry was posted on Friday, May 25th, 2007 at 12:58 am and is filed under LiFe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.