by Patrick Marchildon

Created on: June 03, 2009

To be young again! At first glance, these words appear to be a twenty four year old's sarcastic response to the question found in the title. The reality I am faced with, much like all of my other twenty something compatriots leads me to almost whole heartedly uttering that very phrase. When you are a teenager, you never really grasp the true meaning of independence and yet you fight this urge to move away from home where you play by your own rules. The reality is that you are merely replacing one set of ground rules with those imposed by society and the economic system that envelops us all. After high school, you are left with the decision of continuing your education or entering the workforce in search of a career. Essentially, these are your formative years in which you you embark on your journey into the real world or the slightly less overwhelming bubble that is College. The young, enthusiastic, ambition being you have become, is set to learn and develop intellect through life experiences. The media implies that these are the best years of your life and enable you to party amongst the social animals you meet. If only they mentioned immediacy of your decisions and the extreme causality of your actions.

If you choose to pursue a higher education and in some way manage to muscle your way through your program with painstaking hours spent studying and writing your thesis, you are given a piece of paper that states an amazing accomplishment. This piece of paper is a constant reminder of the debt you've accumulated and that the next 20 years or so will be spent repaying your tuition. The average person has many careers and often in fields unrelated to one another. Perhaps that piece of paper is not what you were looking for and now you are left at the front line with everyone else.

Being twenty something does not mean you have time to party and socialize. It means you must now choose your first career path and hope it guides you down a golden road to the answers you've been looking for by the time you are thirty. Perhaps, you are one of the many that have decidedly gone from program to program hoping to find your niche. It's okay to be complacent. It is perhaps even prudent. Remain calm and keep your options open. As long as you are aware of the potential problems that lie ahead, you can plan for the worst, hope for the best and enjoy the youth that remains.

Some battle debt by staying at home with their parents while they go to school. I assure you the majority of students are working part time at the very least. As for myself, I am working full time while going to school. Twenty something will soon be thirty something and only those who are willing to put in the time it takes to reflect from within, and direct oneself towards a potentially bright future will survive.This is the age to determine what drives you, and for you to inch yourself closer into a rich, fulfilling adulthood.

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