These days, it seems like the “25 Things to Do in Your Twenties” lists are everywhere. No matter where I turn, I’m bombarded by lists written by artsy New York hipsters who dish out free advice, resulting in a general feeling of inadequacy, and the constant nagging of your shattered ego – “why haven’t I figured it out yet? I’m getting older, yet I feel like I’m moving further and further away from that balanced state of adult life.
At work, I strut around and meet clients in a blazer and pencil skirt, hand out namecards at networking sessions with a title that sounds way more important than my actual role, and put on a front of knowing what I’m talking about. Sometimes, I see the doubt in their eyes before our conversation even begins. Here is a young girl, undoubtedly in her early twenties, who is she to tell these seasoned businessmen what to do with their businesses? “How long have you been working here?” “1 year.” “And before that?” “Before that….I was at university.” It’s certainly difficult to build credibility with old men when age isn’t on your side.
When I finish pretending to be a mature professional, letting loose isn’t even an option. What’s the next step? Career development? Getting to that big dream on the tip of the pyramid? Furthering education? What about personal life? It isn’t the first time I find myself contemplating the difficulty of meeting like-minded people after college. The best thing I got out of UChicago, it seems, isn’t the prestigious Economics degree or the fancy liberal arts ability to blab about Plato or Marx, but rather the friends I emerged with. Now, people at work are just so different, so complex, with their tangled web of office politics and subtle nuances of communication. Increasingly, I wonder whether my twenty-two years of life experience has equipped me to handle all of this.
Maybe that’s the reason I am listening to one song in particular on repeat. One line of its lyrics just speaks to me – “Wake me up when it’s all over. When I’m wiser and I’m older.” But if I don’t fall asleep, then we can only go up from here.
Musings of a Leaf 