the QLC

the other day, my college buddy and i caught up on each other's lives. she remarked how low she has been feeling, not only lately but most times. i cannot help but relate and identify with her. i too have been feeling that same kind of low, and at this point in our lives when we are supposed to be at our peak.

we both attributed this feeling to QLC or more commonly known as quarterlife crisis. according to wikipedia, characteristics of quarter-life crisis may include:

• feeling "not good enough" because one can't find a job that is at one's academic/intellectual level
• frustration with relationships, the working world, and finding a suitable job or career
• confusion of identity
• insecurity regarding the near future
• insecurity concerning long-term plans, life goals
• insecurity regarding present accomplishments
• re-evaluation of close interpersonal relationships
• disappointment with one's job
• nostalgia for university, college, high school or elementary school life
• tendency to hold stronger opinions
• boredom with social interactions
• loss of closeness to high school and college friends
• financially-rooted stress (overwhelming college loans, unanticipatedly high cost of living, etc.)
• loneliness
• desire to have children
• a sense that everyone is, somehow, doing better than you.

So, we talked about it until there is nothing left to say and we were both left with a resigned feeling that indeed, growing up is a shitty thing. i can only commiserate and empathize with her on that matter because i too have known and felt how shitty growing up can get.

hay.. gone are the days when we could just be students and think grand thoughts about how best to contribute to make this place a better place to live in and ponder on that overarching theory which would bridge the natural sciences, the social sciences and religion into one.

in a year or so (hopefully, i am so crossing my fingers), i am leaving yet another comfort zone. i ought to be prepared, but how?

we can only pray to God every single day to keep our wits about us and that we may be possessed of courage to go on living even when to live is to be marked...to change, to die one hundred deaths (The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver).