Quarter-life crisis

Time for a life change

A few months ago I celebrated a birthday. Not just any birthday - my 25th birthday. While I'd always joked around with my parents about oncoming mid-life crisis symptoms in the past, all of a sudden I was experiencing my own quarter-life crisis and it just didn't seem so funny anymore.

Where did the time go? When people ask me how old I am, 21 still rolls off the tip of my tongue. It seemed like over the course of a day I moved from being a marginally responsible young adult without a care in the world, to a woman who should be plotting out her career path, scoping for a husband, and agonizing over her ticking biological clock. I wasn't ready to start thinking about these things...in fact, what I really wanted to do was throw caution to the wind, quit my job, strap on a backpack, and travel the world.

And thus the adventure begins...

The first (second, third, and fiftieth) step of this journey involved research. And more research. Where did I want to go? How long did I want to travel for? How much money would I need to save up? How was I going to break the news to my parents. And etc etc etc. Months later I am still doing research (how do people do these things spontaneously?), but am starting to get closer to my departure date. I've decided to begin this new and exciting stage of life during the new year (how fitting). On January 3rd I will be packing my deet, tying on my hiking shoes, and setting off to Nepal for the beginning of the "year of Jen".

To appease my poor and neglected resume, provide myself some focus, and give back to the communities that I will be visiting, I've decided to sprinkle my travel dates with volunteer placements. My first stop will be the monasteries in Nepal where I will be teaching English for a couple of weeks. Hopefully they won't ask me what a pronoun is...


Only 3 months, 9 vaccinations, 2 doctor appointments, 3 visa applications, and a serious shopping spree to go...

---

---