Who Else Is Having A Quarter-Life Crisis?
September 7, 2008 by Darren Alff
With just over a month to my 25th birthday, I’ve been doing some serious thinking about my life, what I’ve accomplished up until now, and what I hope to accomplish in the years to come. But the more I look at my current situation and the situation of those around me, the more I realize that we 20-somethings are all in a strange and trying time of our lives.
This week I met up with one of my good friends from high school, Matt Dawson. After high school, Matt moved to Australia and worked as a missionary for a group called YWAM. Eight years later, he is married, has two kids, and is still working with YWAM youth ministry program. Matt’s income is derived almost entirely from donations of those who believe in what he is doing for the church and with a wife and two kids to support, you can imagine just how difficult that might be at times.
Then last Saturday I held a small get-together/movie night at my parents’ house. But before everyone came over for the movie, Travis Miller and his new wife Kelli came for a visit. We talked for a bit about their honeymoon in Jamaica and then I followed them over to their new apartment near the University of Channel Islands. I couldn’t stay long, but it looked like they were settled in for the most part and doing quite well for their first week of marriage back in civilization.
After visiting with Travis and Kelli, I rushed back to my parents’ house and met up with my friends Eric, Wes, Sharon, and David. David and Sharon brought friends of their own.
We all ate hamburgers (Except for me. I ate a veggie burger.) and then went inside to watch Brook Silva-Braga’s incredible backpacking film, “A Map For Saturday.”
My hope in showing this movie to my friends was that I might encourage some of them to meet me in Europe this winter. The movie was such an inspiration for me, but it didn’t seems to have the same impact on my friends. Money was brought up as the main reason for not going. Commitments to friends, family, and work were also discussed.
The next day I took a train down to San Diego. My aunt and uncle picked me up at the train station and then drove me back to their home on Coronado island.
Once in Coronado, we spent a lot of time talking about my upcoming travel plans, my aunt and uncle’s travels through Ireland, and a bunch of other random topics. In addition, we went out to eat Mexican food, explored some of the local shops, and then I fixed up Aunt Christi’s bicycle so we could all go on a ride.
We all started out from Tom and Christi’s home, but Christi returned after just a short while. Tom and I continued down The Strand for a couple miles and returned home just as the sun was setting. I loved seeing all the people out on bikes in Coronado. That just isn’t something you see where my parents live and it isn’t even as popular here in Park City where the mountains make it difficult for the average person to just get out and ride.
On Wednesday I took a plane back to Salt Lake City. I then drove in a pimped out Cadillac Escalade back to my condo and began the long and tedious process of moving all my stuff back in from the basement.
It was great to return home to a clean environment. I always like coming back here to Park City because it’s like starting over again. Every time I return home I get to decide how I will reorganize my furniture, how I will organize my days, and how I will plan out the rest of my life.
Then yesterday I went on a hike. It was my first hike since returning to Park City. I saw a snake and traveled about 6 miles on foot. It wore me out and I didn’t accomplish much for the rest of the day.
More than anything, my recent trip to California made me realize that I’m going through a strange time in my life. A lot of crazy things are happening. I’m an adult now and I’ve got a lot more responsibilities. I’ve also realized that compared to a lot of my friends, I don’t have hardly any responsibilities at all. And while I love the life I have now, I don’t want to be doing the same things a year from now. I need to constantly be changing and I think this trip to Europe is going to force me to make those changes. Force me to be more independent. Force me to make my own decisions. Force me to stand on my own. Force me to meet more people.
Dustin on Thu, 11th Sep 2008 11:01 pm
Ha. The reason I’m on your site is due to my own “quarter-life crisis”. Finished grad school at 23 and now what, right? Well, apparently now I shell out $400 for a used road bike, drop another bill on a tent, and map out a few hundred miles to call my own. If that’s not a quarter-life crisis, then I don’t know what one looks like. Thanks for all the tips on Bicycle Touring Pro. In another few weeks we’ll see whether I actually manned up.