quarterlife contradictions

Nov 10, 2007 - 07:38 AM PST

I see this as a collective list to which anyone can contribute. If you have a contradiction to add to the list, just message or email me (robbinsbooks(AT)gmail)...


The quarterlife can be a confusing time of contradictions, in which you’re pulled in various directions. It can be:

a time of creativity because the world is your blank canvas, with infinite possibilities.
a time of paralysis because the world is your blank canvas, with an intimidating number of possibilities.

an age at which you’re expected to make important life decisions.
an age at which you feel like you haven’t lived enough to make important life decisions (kind of like the experience Catch-22: employers say they want someone with “experience,” but in order to get experience you have to get hired in the first place).

a time of wanting it all – or at least some measurable progress in one area of your life.
a time of feeling guilty for being disappointed that you don’t have it all, or even some measurable progress.

a stage that makes you feel like you’re not becoming an adult quickly enough.
a stage that makes you feel like you want to hang on to childhood a little longer.

a decade to go get what you want.
a decade to figure out what the hell it is that you want in the first place.

a chaotic time when your priorities seem scattered.
a suffocating time when it seems like you’re stuck.

a series of questions that form an unfinished checklist.
a series of comparisons that lead you to question yourself.

a navigation of relationships, old and new.
a realization that it’s hard to find new relationships after school.

a roadtrip without a map, freeing, exhilarating, leading you to feel unburdened and obligationless.
a roadtrip without a map, unfamiliar, uncertain, leading you to feel lost and directionless.

the utmost chance to reinvent yourself.
the utmost reminder that you don’t know yourself at all.