Finding YOUR Place in the Workplace: When Are We Really Grownups?
April 9, 2008 by Kristen King
Filed under Business
I think I’m having an identity crisis. Here I am, 26 years old and running my own business, and some days I feel like I don’t know if I’m coming or going. Am I an entrepreneur, or just a wannabe working in my PJs? Or maybe a little of both?
This is always on my mind after I meet with my colleagues who have “real jobs.” Last week, I attended a committee meeting for one of the professional organizations I belong to, and I definitely felt like the kid in the room. I was dressed professionally, I arrived on time, I made substantive contributions — I did all the right stuff, and the other committee members responded accordingly. But I felt like a big faker.
The thing is, I’ve worked in an office environment and I just didn’t love it. I liked it, but I need more flexibility with how I get through my days, and I get easily distracted by watercooler chit-chat. That, and the fact that the commute was killing me, played a huge factor in my leaving the “real world” for working from home. I do cool stuff now, and I have a great resume to prove it, But now sometimes I feel like I don’t really work, like I have some kind of confession to make when I’m in these professional environments.
Is that a bad thing? Well, the guilt angle certainly is! But I think it has more to do with just figuring out where I fit in the WORLD and less to do with my career. I thought the book Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in Your Twenties
Twentysomethings and thirtysomethings, are you feeling this, too? What’s going on? Older ladies, when are we going to grow out of it? Do you just wake up at 37 suddenly feeling like, “Yes, I’m an adult, I get it”? Or is this just a constant process of navigating ever-changing waters?
Career and life reads for 20somethings:
- Ramen Noodles, Rent and Resumes: An After-College Guide to Life
(by my good friend Kristen Fischer!)
- Generation What?: Dispatches from the Quarter-Life Crisis
- What to Do When You’re Twenty-Two: A Survival Guide for the Quarter-Life Crisis
Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King
(photo via SXC.hu)
Tags: women and business, women in business, business advice for women, identity crisis, quarterlife crisis, quarter-life crisis, women in their twenties, women in their 20s, self employed, entrepreneur, biz chicks rule, kristen king
this is awesome, ive been in and out of work the past two years (because of our awesome economies. right)…after attending grad school and still trying to figure out if i fit in the real world…as a writer, its always difficult to be working in a business environment…it is challenging though and exciting, although passion for your skill has a tendency to kick your soul once in awhile…
Nicole, I just finished grad school and for some reason I thought that would be like my WOW! moment where suddenly everything made sense. Nope! Glad to know I’m not alone.
kk
Hey, nice post. I can definitely relate, even though I do currently work in an office.
You might try the book Refuse to Choose. I found it quite liberating in terms of these issues, and it helped me feel like much less of a freak for having tendencies towards being a bit of a “nontraditional professional.”
Lisa
Thanks for the suggestion, Lisa! I’ll have to check it out…
kk
Honestly, I think for some of us, we never really know. I’ll be 47 next month and I’m only just now figuring out that this (freelance writing) is what I really, REALLY enjoy doing.
I graduated as an RN in the early 80s, worked as an RN but in many capacities. Although it was ok, it wasn’t enough. I worked on the floors, worked as a supervisor, I even taught, but it just wasn’t me. I started working on-line in 1997 but still continued off and on as an RN to keep it up. I finally, last year, said “no, that’s it, I’m not working as a nurse any more.”
But, now that I’m happy as a freelance health writer, I’m still struggling from time to time about what it is in that particular role I want to do.
So, like I said, sometimes I think we’re just like that – always wondering.
Thanks for the comment, Marijke. Good for you for making a big move after a LONG career in one place. That must have been scary! I really admire your gumption. :)
kk