Everyone knows what “the American dream” is, but frankly, I haven’t heard anything on the news in the last year or so that remotely resembles the American dream. Who knows if it even exists anymore? It seems like the American dream has turned into the American nightmare, as illustrated in this graph [source]:

The American Nightmare

If that just isn’t totally and completely depressing regarding one’s prospects for the future in the “adult world,” I don’t know what is.

Cross-posted from breakthesky.net. Please leave any comments there.

Originally published at blog@excuses-untold.org. Please leave any comments there.

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to my future lately, and researching what paths are currently available for me in life, both in terms of my career as well as my personal life. I have my current study plans worked out, which will hopefully result in job offers in my desired field, with the additional bonus of allowing me to both study abroad when I am in college as well as work overseas when I have received my degree. While having major elements of my future such as what type of degree I will have earned in four years figured out is incredibly helpful when it comes to mapping out my future, it’s also a bit daunting.

My general plan for my future is to get my undergraduate degree, and then depending on finances, either head out into the workforce or go to graduate school. And while that’s a fairly plausible plan and is most likely going to happen, I find myself wishing that I could take a year off and do whatever I wanted without any repercussions. I would love to just follow my dreams for a year without having to worry about my studies or finances, and then resume life again in the real world. I am lucky that I currently do not have any major barriers or worries in my future, but I still can’t risk deferring a year of my studies to do whatever I want without derailing my future. It’s unfortunate, but if the off chance that the opportunity for me to do anything I wanted for a year without it affecting my plans for the future, I know exactly what I would do.

I would spend six months of that year traveling. There are so many places in this world I want to see, and I would do anything to just take off and travel without a care in the world. My general outlook on travel is that I will never say no to the option of traveling to any one place, because every travel opportunity is one that should be embraced! I do have a list of places I would especially love to go to, but any place is good. There are also some places that I would like to return to, for one reason or another. Never say no to traveling to a new place is what I live by, and so I would love to just travel for six months and see what places I end up going to.

The other six months I would spend volunteering at either The School of St. Jude in Arusha, Tanzania, or at the nursery school I volunteered at in May. When I volunteered at the nursery school, I felt like I was making a difference in someone’s life, and that I was finally able to do something that wasn’t just for me, but for those around me. The kids were fantastic, and every day I wish I could go back to Tanzania and volunteer some more because it was such a powerful experience. The only thing is, if I ever get the chance to return to Tanzania, I’m not sure I would come back - it was hard enough to leave last time!

Question of the Week: If you could take a year off without it affecting any of your plans for the present or future, what would you want to do?

Originally published at blog@excuses-untold.org. Please leave any comments there.

Lately I’ve been thinking about all of the trials and tribulations that are associated with growing up. You know, things like serious relationships, marriages, babies, careers, moving out from home, that kind of stuff. And it hit me that already, a lot of my friends and high school classmates have started to jump through all of the hoops that are typically associated with adulthood and growing up. What makes it scary, though, is that I don’t feel like any of us are mature enough to handle being adults just yet. It seems like it was only yesterday when we were all kids in high school messing around and not taking life seriously. Suddenly, now we’re all grown up and are facing things I never thought we’d have to face so soon. Ruby said it best in a thread at Vegetarian Option: “I think what some people don’t comprehend is that they want to be old enough to do anything, but they’re not mature enough to handle just about anything.”

• Getting married
  One of my high school classmates got married last weekend. He and his wife (I still think that sounds so weird, saying that he has a wife now) began dating after we graduated from high school last June. To my knowledge, she is his first and only girlfriend, he’s never dated anyone else. He is a freshman in college, and she is a senior in high school. They are both only 18. I know I am more cynical than your average person, but honestly, what kind of long-lasting marriage is born out of a situation like that? All of the long-term couples in my high school class have broken up since starting college, and they had all been dating for over a year. This kid seems to think that it was a good idea to marry his girlfriend of less than a year? What kind of future is in store for them?
• Pregnancy scares
  Obviously, pregnancy scares are a result of being sexually active. But what freaks me out about them (aside from the possibility of having a baby, of course) is that it seems like the people who have pregnancy scares aren’t in serious relationships, or they don’t even know who they had the baby with because there’s more than one guy on the scene. Really? How can good parenting skills result from a situation like that? What are the chances of the baby, if the “scare” turns out to be a legitimate pregnancy, having a good future? Or even surviving, since abortion is now an option for some people?
• Having babies
  Aside from the pregnancy scare business, two of my friends that I went to high school with when I was living in Australia are now teenage mothers. I’ve seen pictures of my friend’s babies and all, but I still can’t believe my friends are mothers. When were we mature enough to handle this? I still remember when we all met in Year 7 on the first day of school and how awed we were by the incredibly grown up Year 12 students. And now look at us, some of us are parents now. It’s crazy.
• Moving out from home
  I live on-campus at my college, and my college isn’t particularly close to my house (I have to fly home whenever I want to visit my family). So in a way I am living on my own, but at the same time, I’m not really. I am more on my “own” than I would be if I lived at home full-time, but I am still not completely on my own the way I would be if I were renting an apartment. Some of my friends want to do that, which is fine, but the ones that want to have no steady income (read: no job) and are overall pretty irresponsible. Plus, some of my friends are already living on their own, but as a result of being kicked out of home. I understand that for some, independence is only understood when you are forced to deal with it, but being kicked out of home is never a good thing in any situation.
• Meeting people at clubs and bars
  I understand that everyone wants to meet new people, whether it be just for fun or with romantic intentions. I go out clubbing with my friends sometimes, and if any of us happens to meet someone, it’s usually harmless and all in good fun. But what I don’t understand is how some people are bound and determined to go out to clubs and bars solely for the purpose of snagging someone to start a relationship with, at least at my age. We’re only 18. Our entire future is ahead of us, there is more to life than patrolling the city night life for potential boyfriends. Going out to clubs and bars are fun, but a lot of the fun is lost when you shift the focus from a night out with friends to a night out for finding a significant other. We have plenty of time to do that in the future, just enjoy the fun times with friends when you can.