As a wise rockstar once put it,
you’ve got to lose control before you can take control
Most of our friends are right smack dab in the middle of, or nearing their quarter life crisis. It’s so real, and it’s not any easier even when you live in a happy go lucky place like New Orleans. It’s very possibly, even more difficult due to the many “temptations” we are surrounded by.
Being in your mid-late twenties is an awkward age where you know you are getting too old to be going into the office hungover more than once per week. You aren’t quite ready to settle down, and are changing your mind about what the f you want to do with your life pretty much every second of every day.
We imagine this is a similar journey just about anywhere in the world for people in this awk age range, but here are our thoughts on what it’s like in the Big Easy.
One second, you’re on top of the world
This city has a way of making you feel like you are on top of the world. It’s such a “small town” that you see five people you know around every corner, and of course it brings a smile to your face feeling like Ms. Popular. You’re all like, “I’m on top of the world in this city, everyone knows who I am” (hair flip). You reassure yourself that if you jaunted off to NYC, you’d be lost in a sea of people.
You realize, drinking just got real hard
Living in a city that prides itself on drinking at literally EVERY single occasion seemed like so much fun when you moved here. Everyone was like “you must be a total party girl!” At first, you were soaking it up, and then you hit 2-5, and your body was all like, woah, drinking copious amounts of alcohol in honor of each social interaction is EXHAUSTING. Of course, we still do it because we need to forget the dumb things we did last time we got white girl wasted. The cycle is never ending really 😫
And, your body isn’t agreeing with po-boys so much anymore
Remember when you could eat a slice of pizza at The Boot, wake up have a po-boy and then cure it all with a boozy Sunday brunch, and still be looking just as fly come Monday? Welp, we presume your body started a’changing in the mid-twenties as ours have. Suddenly, you are a yo-yo. You gain ten pounds every weekend just to work it off with your new found gym membership Monday through Thursday and then do it all over again.
People are moving, getting married and buying houses all around you
WTF?! When did everyone start deciding to become legit adults. The majority of your friend group that once was your party krewe in Nola is long gone. You suddenly don’t look so impressive because you are no longer rollin’ deep into the club, but showing up with your lone single girlfriend by your side. Half of your Facebook feed is full of people getting proposed to, married or purchasing homes, and the other half is people who are in the same boat as you. You feel SO far away from the ones settling down, and they look at you like you are a complete shit show. You are left feeling like you need to get your shit together immediately!!! But then, you feel #blessed at the same time that you can still make really questionable decisions and not have to wake up to a child the next morning.
You are overly emotional about everything
On the plus side, you finally start letting go of all the weird insecurities you had in your teenage years and early 20’s, but this makes for a whole new kind of embarrassment. You start crying during commercials, when The Saints don’t win, over everything that doesn’t tickle your fancy TBH. You are constantly worrying that you will be alone forever, and do things like go to visit a psychic in the French Quarter just to prove to yourself that you are in fact, right.
Most of all, you are just indecisive as hell
If we had to describe this period of life in one word, it would be, indecisive. One second, you are saying how you are going to stay in and take care of yourself for the weekend, and the next your friends are asking you to go out, and you are all like “YOLO, I mean, I’m almost 30 so gotta get it all out now, right?”
To add to the indecisiveness, you are undecided on your love life and your career..🤔
One second, you are talking about how you are taking a break from dating to work on yourself, and figure out your life. The next, you are aimlessly swiping through Bumble trying to find some sense of validation from a person who is likely doing the same thing as you. Not to mention, constantly deleting and re-adding your dating apps oh so dramatically. You are constantly trying to figure out if New Orleans is the place you should end up. You love SO many things about this wonderful city, but you know you would get paid twice as much in a suburban safe haven, and not have to deal with so many of the adorably, frustrating things that make New Orleans what it is. You keep making changes like getting a new haircut or color, but nothing makes this feeling going away.
But the good news is, you are not alone..
The only thing that makes you realize you are not absolutely losing your mind is that all of your friends are going through literally the exact. same. shit. We are all grateful to live in this wonderful city unlike any other in the world, but that doesn’t help us twenty-somethings from feeling absolutely lost at the same time. In fact, according to The Guardian, the quarter-life crisis affects 86% of millennials (ok, we won’t get anymore scientific bc that’s not our thing).
We will all figure it out babes. In the meantime, share your quarter life crisis struggles in the comments so we all know we are in this together. Laughing at yourself is the best medicine #amirite?!?
WE WILL ALL GET OUR SHIT TOGETHER. Hopefully. One day.
XOXO
Your Very Indecisive Babes