I painted and drew everyday and really lived my dream. I meditated, spent lots of time in nature and met great people. I volunteered. I taught art at a correctional facility. I walked dogs for the SPCA. I learned basic Spanish. I did a VERY short stint on a biological reserve in Ecuador.

My husband and I reconciled. I was absolutely unwilling to return to a job which felt meaningless for me. I considered returning to school for Art Ed but the job prospects seemed very grim. I tutored kids part-time (still do-love it) but the savings is gone and the $ stinks. For the most part my husband has been supporting us. He has given me the gift of time and I will forever be grateful.

We sold our house at a loss and are in effect starting over. In the past we were totally over the top with everything (big house/cars/etc) and miserable. We were always stressed. The big house always needed something done (weeding/mowing/painting/roofing/etc). We now live in a very nice 2 bdrm 1500 sqft apt w/ our dog and cat. Simple.

While we do want to get our finances in order since we aren't getting any younger overall we are both happier than we were in our "previous life." We both learned gratitude.

I recently started massage school part-time. I love it. I plan to begin working part-time towards my RN in Jan and work through both programs concurrently. I plan to keep tutoring and am considering working as a nurse's aide in addition to this as your are helping others, the hours are flexible and you can always find a job. Not glamorous. Not what you expect to do with a B.A. but….who cares :-)

While outwardly, my life might appear to be a giant fail (our friends and families are aghast at our current lifestyle), I regret nothing.

I only share my story because I hope it might help someone else in some way. Good luck to all…I wish you well….

Before I graduated, I was dead-set on getting a sparkling new career in IT. But then I realized that I am not very good at hardcore math or logic, and I hate the idea of sitting in a cube writing code all day for some profit/production-crazed boss. I really want something more rewarding and more fulfilling than that. You know, something that will make a positive impact on the world. That goal is about as cliche as it gets for a college grad, probably.

I am just patiently waiting for a phone call that will launch me into my next random gig. That's the only thing I can aim for right now.

I think people who lived in the past were lucky because they could just inherit the family business (ie. clock-making, brick-laying or whatever). They had skills "built in" to them and didn't have to worry themselves into oblivion trying to pick a career out of the huge multitude of options.

What got me out of the crisis was accepting that I had to start at the beginning. Not some step above, but right at the very bottom. Once I accepted that, I felt pretty good about what I was doing because I was doing my best and doing it with an attitude of gratitude.

But the quarter-life crisis, and now the mid-life crisis, has always been with me. Every time I start to make career progress, I start to feel restless and in need of a new career. I now think that there is no answer to the "what do I want to be when I grow up" question.

All I know for sure is that I want to earn enough to afford a basic life, I want my job not to take up all my mental energy and time but still be interesting, and I want my boss and co-workers to not be psychopaths. Maybe these wants would be possible if everyone just gave up making work the center of the universe.