This is not a guide, I actually want to know!

I’ll be turning 24 this year, just about time for the quarter-life crisis to begin. I finished high school in what feels like decades ago, graduated from university with a degree I don’t think I was ever really interested in, and now have a real boring office job that definitely pays me some money. What am I doing with my life?

I completed all the steps on the traditional path – completed high school, picked a science-ish program at university, worked a couple part-time jobs before obtaining my degree. A few months after graduation, I started working a cushy full-time job. I followed through with what was mostly expected of me throughout my life until that point, and now I don’t know what to do. Everyone around me seems to expect nothing and everything at the same time. They seem to want me in a stable job, make stable money, but also try new things and take big risks. A bigger problem that I have is I don’t even know what I myself want. Do I want a career change, even thought I technically haven’t even built one yet? Should I even bother with more professional fields like finance and tech if I didn’t do school for them? Will I ever have the chance to do cool things, like be in a play or publish my own book, or maybe even be on TV?

At the age where everything is possible, things have never felt more impossible. In this economy, having a stable income is more important than anything. With prices soaring month after month, leaving a stable job behind to take risks seems… irresponsible. There are plenty of people that are struggling to pay bills, and plenty more having difficulty even surviving. If I already have a steady, livable income, it wouldn’t make sense for me to leave it behind to chase after something uncertain.

… Or should I? Isn’t life too short for us to be playing it safe all the time? Especially, at my ripe age of 23, my risk tolerance should be pretty darn high! Maybe I should start doing things I want to do, things that I’m passionate about. Hang the money, I (am very privileged to) have my family and some savings if anything goes wrong. I need to do something that makes me feel alive again. As Belle once said, there must be more to this life!

I don’t know what my next step should be. I don’t know what I should do, or what I should do. I don’t know who I should go to. But I am absolutely certain about one thing – This is not the life I want.

[disclaimer: feature image generated with ai]