Quarter Life Crises
I have been thinking lately about the concept of a sort of "quarter-life crisis," a twenty-something meltdown that it seems like almost everyone I know endures, or has endured at some point. There comes a point, usually right after college (for me it started in the last days of high school) when there is a break in the clouds of all of the bullshit they teach in school, on TV, everywhere: that every person should have a pre-determined career path that they are just meant to follow, and that if you get good grades in high school and go to a good college, then your whole life will magically fall into place and be spectacular. And everyone, sooner or later, realizes that this is bullshit, and it causes a complete and total freak-out.
The point of this babble (and there is a point) is that there is hope.
Take Sorta, for example, a hard-working band-done-good out of Dallas, Texas that is starting to make waves. Their last album, Little Bay, has been in heavy rotation on my mp3 player this last week, with memories of their show at the 400 Bar last Friday still ringing in my ear. The guys in Sorta have a philosophy about music that I find to be fascinating, a way of approaching the whole big weird game that is so refreshing:
"Sorta is a band emboldened by the confidence that, whatever change of direction it makes on a whim, things will all work out," says the band's bio. "But not knowing exactly where they’ll end up or how they’ll get there … well, that’s the thrill of it all."
This is the kind of philosophy that is looked down upon in "mainstream society," but wouldn't it be great if we could all embrace it? Do we really need a map, a specific formula for success and the same dumb college-->job-->kids-->retirement-->death scheme that has been making people flip out for years and years?
I promise I'm not normally this new-age philosophical. Just one of those days. Here is a quote from George Monbiot that I found to be especially moving, on the topic of maintaining a free life:
The point of this babble (and there is a point) is that there is hope.
Take Sorta, for example, a hard-working band-done-good out of Dallas, Texas that is starting to make waves. Their last album, Little Bay, has been in heavy rotation on my mp3 player this last week, with memories of their show at the 400 Bar last Friday still ringing in my ear. The guys in Sorta have a philosophy about music that I find to be fascinating, a way of approaching the whole big weird game that is so refreshing:
"Sorta is a band emboldened by the confidence that, whatever change of direction it makes on a whim, things will all work out," says the band's bio. "But not knowing exactly where they’ll end up or how they’ll get there … well, that’s the thrill of it all."
This is the kind of philosophy that is looked down upon in "mainstream society," but wouldn't it be great if we could all embrace it? Do we really need a map, a specific formula for success and the same dumb college-->job-->kids-->retirement-->death scheme that has been making people flip out for years and years?
If it's up to me, let it go down,The guys in Sorta really know how to mix genres, and Little Bay just might be one of the most diverse records I have heard recently. The album starts out with a twangy, Eclectone Records-type feel to it, building on alt-country and dancing acoustic guitar with pedal steel. Before long they venture into psychadelic funk-rock, and then blast into a rock that conjurs up simultaneous images of Steve Miller and Neil Young. It's good stuff, and it's all tied together with a theme of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants freedom.
fall down, flee
But it's fun
Everyone's happy and everyone's young!
So when I grow old and lonelySorta has a new album coming out this month. They're still pretty small nationally, and that, combined with their aforementioned collective free spirit, has left the release date up in the air for now. But I am looking forward to hearing more from these guys very soon.
Will you just stay at home
Will you decide what's best for me
Or, will I be on my own?
Starry-eyed
Starry-eyed
I promise I'm not normally this new-age philosophical. Just one of those days. Here is a quote from George Monbiot that I found to be especially moving, on the topic of maintaining a free life:
So my final piece of advice is this: when faced with the choice between engaging with reality or engaging with what Erich Fromm calls the “necrophiliac” world of wealth and power, choose life, whatever the apparent costs may be. Your peers might at first look down on you: poor Nina, she’s twenty-six and she still doesn’t own a car. But those who have put wealth and power above life are living in the world of death, in which the living put their tombstones – their framed certificates signifying acceptance to that world – upon their walls.
You know you have only one life. You know it is a precious, extraordinary, unrepeatable thing: the product of billions of years of serendipity and evolution. So why waste it by handing it over to the living dead?
Very true Andrea, great post, totally agree with you.
Posted by
rocknrollstar |
2:58 PM, March 01, 2006
"Life is what happens when you're making plans." John Lennon
There has been slight paradigm shift, more couples choosing to go childless or having children way later in life, there are higher rates of cohabitation, lower rates of college attendence (I don't think the college drops is a good thing unless people are opting for valuable life experience like world travel.) Nevertheless sociologists are noticing a shift in the traditional life cycle.
Thanks for making me think Andrea.
Posted by
Lisa |
4:47 PM, March 01, 2006
I like to think it was my midlife crisis I had at 21 and that I'll be dead by 42.
Wait. That's just 90 days away.
Posted by
David |
5:38 PM, March 01, 2006
Great quote, Lisa, one of my favorites!
It's hard to know what people should do about college, it is way harder for me now that I have a full-time job and busy life to make time for my classes, but I don't know that I would have been able to finish the path that I was on before. Even four years ago I thought I was a completely different person. I guess it varies from person to person.
I see what you are saying, though, there is definitely a different perspective in the younger generations, I hope we are moving toward some sort of progress.
David, if you die in 90 days then I will have an actual crisis to deal with. I can't handle it! So don't.
Posted by
Andrea |
8:32 AM, March 02, 2006
My quarter-life crisis began about ten years ago and I think I'll milk it for another ten. I am hoping to make it a quarter-of-my-life crisis.
Posted by
Bob |
11:12 AM, March 02, 2006
Don't worry Andrea. Truth be told, I didn't have my midlife crisis until I was 24.
Posted by
David |
8:15 PM, March 02, 2006
my perspective on the old quarter-lifer is that the real moment often comes (if you're the collegiate type) four to five years after you finish college. i think that as we grow up, this pattern becomes ingrained in us whereby our life goes through a shift every so often. elementary school for five to six years, junior high for two to three, high school for four to eight (depending on you level of motivation), then college for four to five. all of these changes are tectonic and at each juncture you get to re-invent yourself to some extent. furthermore, these changes are thurst upon you by the simple machine of society mandating that you go somewhere else to do the next thing. hitting that moment at 25, 26, 27 where you feel that need for a change but find that it's just your life can be a little staggering. i know i found it to be that way. there seems to be less and less of the sort of get-out-of-college-get-a-job-get-married-settle-down type of structure going for people and i think we're now expecting our lives to be continually reinvented for us by circumstances that are beyond us. but ultimately, when you have that crisis, it's up to you to make a change, make a decision. that's why i got a sex change and moved to minnesota.
Posted by
Steve McPherson (editor) |
5:43 PM, March 03, 2006