My quarter life crisis
So. My first crisis!! So exciting!!!
I’m going to try and explain these as clearly as possible because I know I ramble lol.
Backstory. Going into college I majored in entrepreneurship. I knew I wanted to start my own business and work for myself in the future. I was required to take a marketing class and fell in love with it, so I added it as a major.
Junior year I decided I wanted to open a bakery. I was feeling a little stressed about how much money I would have to put into it to start it and then how long it would take to get established and make that money back. I was starting to feel the pressure and so I was like “I need a fallback plan.” I decided that I was going to apply for marketing internships for the Summer. After months of applying I finally got one.
Here’s where the crisis starts.
After a couple of weeks I fell in love with my job. I was SHOCKED. I never in my life thought I would like a corporate job. The steady paycheck oh my gosh. The benefits oh my gosh. I’m not even talking about benefits benefits (bc I don’t get those lol). I’m talking about the free coffee in the mornings, the cafeteria in the building, free random treats, and getting to make friends because you see them everyday.
However, I do count down the hours until I go home. Don’t get me wrong I like my job but doing the same thing every single day is a little hard on me. It feels like every day goes by the pace of a snail and then once I’m home all I have time for is prepping dinner, cooking dinner, cleaning dinner up, showering and going to bed. If I don’t go to bed early I die in the mornings because I have to get up at 6. It kind of hit me that I’m at work for 8 hours of the day and once I get home I only have 5 hours to do things. You’re actually at your job more than you’re free and that was stressful to me.
So here’s my crisis.
Do I work corporate out of college?
Do I start my business out of college?
Or should I travel the world?
This past semester I got to study abroad and travel the world. I got to visit 10 new countries and it was amazing. I kind of thought the semester would help diminish my travel bug but it made it worse. Yes I did get to visit 10 countries but I only got to visit 10 cities. I wish I saw more cities within countries. I know I’ve seen more than the average person would and I’m so lucky. But part of me wants to see everything the world has to offer. I know it’s not possible to see everything but shouldn’t I try?
I looked it up and there are about 190 countries in the world. Theoretically I could visit every single country. However, if you asked a stranger they would say that’s not realistic. But like why not? I hopefully have about 50 years left in my life and that’s 4 countries a year. Seeing the beauty in the world made me want to see all of it.
Another thing. The more I work corporate (literally have only done it for a month and a half) the smaller my want to start my bakery. I love baking and have always wanted to do that, but after work I haven’t been able to practice. Since I have so much to do after work, baking (for the fun of it since I don’t have orders) has fallen down the list of priorities. I never want my dreams to diminish due to a steady paycheck but also I don’t want to give up a steady paycheck and be broke.
So that’s my first conflict. Which one do I pursue? I feel like the longer I work corporate the less likely I’ll start the business.
The second conflict is if I should do any of it at all and just travel? I could save up for awhile and make it stretch as far as I can until I’m forced to come back and get a job.
Here’s the solution I came up with. Finding a remote job that allows me to travel the world. The only problem is finding one. IF I could find a travel specific remote job that would be even better.
Part of me also wants to get into influencer and fashion marketing but I would basically have to move to New York to land a job in that space. I don’t even know. Clearly I’m spiraling.
I know every senior goes through this and it’s a little soothing to know that, but not that much. I WISH MONEY DIDN’T MATTER. UGH.
I just want to love my job, and travel, and start my business. I want to live out my passions but it’s “unrealistic” to do all. But like why??
Anyways those are the three paths my life can take and I feel like I have to make a decision soon.