Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Why does everyone expect so much from 22 year olds?

I usually don't write serious posts questioning society and whatnot, but I guess I felt like it today.  So here's my rant about how everyone should get off everyone else's case and do whatever they want.  Oh, and there's random pictures of Paris - there's really no connection whatsoever.  



As a recent college graduate, I understand the pressures that society puts on young twenty-somethings to hit the ground running after finishing school.  Since high school, people have been asking me what I want to do with my life.  During college, every time I would tell someone that I was majoring in French and in history, people would ask, "what do you want to do with that?" with that judgmental tone that made me want to scream.  And the absolute worst was during entirety of my senior year, everyone from classmates, friends, family members to complete strangers asked me what I planned to do after graduation.  Well, it's been almost a year since graduation, and guess what, I still have no idea.  



Maybe I was avoiding tough decisions and situations by moving to Paris, or maybe I wanted one last adventure before becoming a certified adult.  Either way, it's been the best decision I've made so far (besides deciding to go back to being a blonde after accidentally dying my hair black... that still has to be the best one).  As I discuss in my guest post  on my friend Val's blog The In-between Life, not everyone is required to follow the path that is expected of them.  I still do not understand why people expect so much from people in their early twenties, and why are we all required to become so serious so quickly?  We go from being complete screw-ups in college, and then we're suddenly forced into the expectations of adulthood.



I'm not trying to say that we should all stay care-free and immature for the rest of our lives, that's not my argument whatsoever.  All I'm trying to say is that everyone is different, a snow flake if you will, and we can't all be forced down the same path as everyone else.  I know what people think when I tell them what I'm doing, but quite frankly, I don't care.  I'm not going to lie and say that I didn't use to - people's negativity toward my decision to become an au pair really bothered me for awhile, but I think the most adult thing I've done so far was to choose not to listen to them anymore.


Please check out Val's blog The In-between Life where she writes about being in your early twenties fresh out of college.  Also, check out my guest post about my life after graduation and what lead me to my decision to move to beautiful Paris, France.

4 comments:

  1. I feel ya sister. Does it at least help to know you're not alone in feeling this way? Because it kind of helps me. I used to feel awful about where life was taking me, and I kind of felt like a failure because I wasn't living up to everyone's expectations. My family would ask what my plans were now that I graduated, or what my major was, and when I said "history" they would be like... so what are you going to do with that? Damn dude, I don't know. I just know I learned a lot in college and I studied something I actually enjoyed, so back off. Life will take us where it's supposed to, no point in stressing so much about it, or feeling like just because you're not making the big bucks you've totally wasted your degree.

    Anyway, totally off topic but I nominated you for an award so check it out here :)
    http://www.in-betweenlife.com/2014/04/liebster-award.html#more

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  2. I came across your blog on the 20SB Community Roundup from last week and this is totally strange but I am also a Rutgers alum who did a major in French! I graduated in 2012.

    Your blog is so interesting because my plans/idea to move to France after graduation did not pan out unfortunately but I love reading about other people's experiences, especially when they are written about so candidly like yours are. I'm a grad student now and I still relate to a lot of what you say in this post- the "expectations". Even though I've committed the next 5+ years of my life to school, I don't want to feel locked into any decisions about my life or my career until I really feel comfortable with something. Unfortunately, the social judgements about things like that don't seem to disappear!

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    1. That's so funny! There's not a lot of us Rutgers French alumni.

      Good luck with grad school! I read your blog, and it's really interesting! I am currently giving English lessons to a future immunologist, so I will try and look extra smart next time and mention some things I read in your blog.

      Thanks so much for reading!

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