So this is a draft I just found from, well, too long ago to let it just continue to sit and smolder.
Consider this my formal announcement of me getting back on the bandwagon and from there, throwing my hat in the ring. Hopefully this translates as me being back in the game. The tumblr game. All fueled by a weeked alone and too many half drank bottles of wine around the house. I’m working on an excellent Gewürztraminer as I type.
So here it is:
Recently finished reading this long (self-indulgent for me) article in the New York times about 20-somethings. It got me to (re)thinking about whether or not we are of the fate oriented or the free will oriented.
Do we, as 20-somethings, choose the option of a stable life, or, rather, decide to let what happens, happen? Are we wandering aimlessly by choice or have we been overrun by the underachieving economy? Obviously things can’t be broken down this easily, and most things are a mix of many disparate ends of opposing spectrums (like a double rainbow, it makes us ask “What does this mean?”)
One thing that is often cited as a problem among the perpetual emerging adult (18-28ish) is that they have either a lack of motivation to get shit done or they have too high expectations of what they can achieve. There may be something else at play now, however. The lack of entry level jobs in “ideal” jobs at once eliminates possibilities (and a set career path) as well as frees up the recent graduate to explore possibilities that they would have never considered. The motivation, I believe, is also returning; my generation is seemingly more concerned with the larger social picture than I’ve ever experienced (but I’m young).
I’d say that there are still some unreasonably high expectations as to what one can achieve right away, but now that certain set career paths are gone, the possibilities are so endless that the choices are more appealing to keep around as opposed to eliminating many of them by deciding on one (or two). Deciding is terrifying, because as soon as we decide, we’ve decided to NOT do an infinite amount of other things.
So in the end we’ve got to just decide that we are going to choose something; and hope for the best.
