Waking Up on the Wrong Side

I had an idea recently about documenting all the funny and sometimes frightening and mind boggling events that have become my world over the past almost 2 years.

It all began when I turned 24. I was coming off the disappointment of 23, which was supposed to be my "golden year." For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, your golden year is said to be the year in which you turn the same age as the date of your birthday. I was born on the 23rd of February, 1984, so 2007 was supposed to be my "golden year." However, the entire year came and went and not a damn thing happened. Now, some would say that's not necessarily a bad thing. Just because nothing good happened, doesn't mean I shouldn't be thankful that nothing bad happened. Memories are made either way, and most times it's the awful and traumatic things we tend to remember.

Anyway, with 23 lived and gone, I had high hopes for 24. 25 was just around the corner and I had to stop playing at being an adult and focus on actually becoming one. It was right around this time I began feeling the beginning symptoms of what I later diagnosed as a "quarter life crisis." (Thanks Mark!) You're still sort of in your early 20s and you just want to go out and party before you're forced to grow up, but most of the people in your life (at least the ones who aren't actors) are either graduating, or have already graduated and are moving on to try and make something of themselves.

Now, here's the part where I think a lot of us get stuck. What comes next? We're caught in an in between phase and a lot of us don't know where we want to go. Or maybe we thought we knew, but somewhere along the line we changed our minds, and now we're right back at the starting point. I can remember being a teenager and watching some of my friends and family go through this exact same thing. Some of them moved away in an attempt to clear the slate. Some of them changed their career paths. Some cheated on people they had been with for years simply because they felt like they were in a rut and needed that one last hurrah before they woke up in their 30s feeling as though they past up an opportunity that could have changed the course of their lives. But, no matter how far they ran, eventually they all ended up settling into the life that was destined for them. But what happens when you are unsure of what you're destined for?

So here I am at 25, which some would say is young and others (like my sister) would consider their scary age, trying to work my way through it. Hopefully these entries will help myself and others to clear a path that will lead us to success and happiness. And, if not, at least we can have a laugh at some of the nonsense that comes with being on the wrong side of 25.