My Quarter-life Crisis

One of the biggest motivations for this blog is to redefine what life after twenty-five looks like.  It’s a community for likeminded #posttwentyfive-ers who are still foolish enough to believe in their dreams.

In my early twenties, I was a hot mess and had indestructible belief that the dreams I held in the safety of my thoughts would definitely become reality (but mostly a hot mess). I was going to write books, inspire girls everywhere, and create an empire. As a result, everything I did, from school to volunteering to my social life, all lead up to my vision for my life. I started working towards that goal, telling key people my vision and having them come on board to join me. I was convinced eventually, I would look around and see all of my passions come to fruition.

Que my quarter life crisis. Is that even a thing? To be honest, I don’t know exactly what caused the shift in me (I had to scroll through my Instagram timeline to remember what exactly was happening around that time). I do remember I had just walked through one of the toughest seasons of my life with my sister, the guy I had a crush on revealed I was “like a sister” (after a few days of misdirected flirting on a cruise), I ruptured my Achilles heel and I began to feel phased out of my community as I got older. Strangely, even though those events contributed to my quarter-life crisis, it was the words of a trusted friend that changed me for the worst.

“Soon enough you’ll reach the point where your dreams will have to settle with reality. I’ve seen this happen before.”

Unbeknownst to me, that was the moment my dreams began to die. After months of ruminating and dealing with the events around me, life whispered, “Sorry girl, if you haven’t made it by now, it’s not gonna happen.” That slow process of grappling with “reality” snuffed any dream that I so heavily relied on. How did I get here? Is this all that life is? Should I lower the bar of my expectations? My thoughts were chained to the reality that had been painted for me, so much that I began to tailor my life to the new image in my mind. Instead of chasing ideals and creating a space for myself in this world, I began to try to fit in to positions and look for opportunities that would help me survive in my new reality. I was surviving life.

It took almost two years for me to find that spark again. It started with believing in a small impossibility. That impossibility was watered by a community that believed and invested in me.  And that little glimmer of a spark grew into a new dream and newfound determination.

The thing about dreams is they aren’t meant to be limited. A sense of imagination isn’t frivolous. It’s a necessity. Dreams inspire us to push ourselves past the boundaries of what we see. They dare us to imagine what the world would be like if we left a print. And many good dreamers were told their dreams were impossible. I mean, who thinks of storing light in glass bulbs or of different nations & races sitting together in harmony? Only the best dreamers.

So if you find yourself losing your spark, I encourage you to begin to dream again. I hope you begin to think outside the normal boundaries of your reality. I hope you are living life to more than just survive.

On May 27th of this year I wrote a line to myself on my iPhone.

“I woke up to my dreams today.”

Here’s to one day waking up to your dreams.

-Sophia

What are some of your dream? Leave a message and encourage each other in the comments!