Quarter-Life Crisis or Quarter-Life Awakening?!

Updated October 3, 2024

It’s been 2 months and 1 week since I left my corporate job to blog full-time.

When I turned 26, suddenly everything made sense.

They say your brain finishes maturing in your mid to late 20s.

26 must have been that year for me.

I swear I woke up one day, and it hit me like a bucket of cold water.

I could suddenly see with piercing clarity, all the poor decisions I had made in the past.

All the ways in which I had betrayed my own self.

It wasn’t necessarily negative, it was just an “ah-ha” moment.

It was like a second wave of puberty, except I think the core of me as a human being is more changed after this wave.

Since then, I’ve been living in the future.

Before, I used to fret “getting older.” It was scary turning 20 years old.

It was weird turning 25 and officially being “in my mid-twenties.”

But now, I mistakenly tell people I’m 28 (even though my birthday hasn’t hit yet!).

I now understand why people say, “Thank you for your time.”

Getting older, and seeing the crow’s feet at the corner of my eyes. The smile lines on either side of my lips.

I thank those lines for reminding me that, my time is limited.

Working for myself has forced me to see reality for what it is.

People who are successful must have two feet plopped straight in reality, but still have the ability to birth the vision in their minds into reality.

For me, seeing things for what they are is a skill that I’m still honing, but I’m grateful for it.

Working for myself has forced me to prioritize.

I thought that after moving forward from my 9-5 job, that I’d have so much time to spare.

More time to play with my sweet grey tabby, Yul (율) – and teach him a few new tricks.

More time to go on walks with my phone on airplane mode.

Surely the marathon training is taking up a lot of my time… But I actually have much less time than I did before.

Working for myself, and no longer being on someone else’s dime, I know it clear as day when I’m not working on the most important thing.

So… Quarter-Life Crisis, or Quarter-Life Awakening?!

Only time will tell.

JK!

I know where I’m headed. And I’ve learned a thing or two already 🙂