Someone, please tell me that quarter-life crises are a thing! I had to do some self-reflection a week ago after we came back from Sedona. I was having a quarter-life crisis. For a few days, I was very sensitive and I would cry just about everything and anything.

Shortly after graduating, I was so weirded out how I wasn’t a college student anymore. Whenever someone asks me what I do, I couldn’t tell them I’m a student. “I’m a recent college graduate but I’m working at a consulting firm doing marketing.” At what point do I stop telling people that I’m a recent college grad? When does ‘recent‘ no longer become relevant?

It was a new adjustment.

Luckily now, I’m just going with the flow and I try not to overthink things. When I feel like it’s no longer relevant to say I’m a recent college grad, I will stop. Eventually, I want to go back to school for an MBA in either Marketing or Public Relations. I’m not ready to let go of my title student yet!

I’m no longer a student!

These past two weeks, I don’t think I’ve ever been so wishy-washy about my career. I know I’m still pretty young – I’m 23 for those who don’t know. People always tell me that it’s okay if I’m unsure of what I want.

Not many people my age start on their career yet – even Tyler didn’t start his career until he was 26! He took some time after college to play golf professionally. After that didn’t work out, he went into Investment Banking.

I think I’ve always known what I wanted to do since I was 12. Of course, there would be some moments where I was confused – do I go into the medical field? You know, Asian parents – you have three options and it’s either lawyer, doctor, or engineer. I didn’t want to go into the medical field because I once dated this jerk who told me that I needed to become a doctor in order to be ‘successful‘. Pfft, success is so subjective.

Also, at one point during my first year of college, I had this idea of going into Computer Science. Obviously that didn’t happen but I do know Java!

I knew deep down that I wanted to go into Marketing or Public Relations.

At 12 years old, I remembered being so fascinated with influencer marketing. I would even develop marketing strategies too, haha. I loved to pretend that I owned a beauty company and I would scout out YouTubers I would ask to review my products. This was all before the term ‘influencer‘ was a thing and before influencer marketing. Who knew I liked to scout out influencers?

Additionally, I loved pitching. I landed my first sponsored video when I was 13 years old. I would pitch to so many beauty companies because I wanted all the makeup in the world. Now looking back, why would anyone trust a 13-year-old! I didn’t know that it was considered Marketing and/or Public Relations. One thing I did know was that I loved it!

Recently, I’ve been going back and forth. Do I want to go into Marketing or do I want to go into Public Relations? Do I want to work in-house or at an agency? Should I go full-time with my blog?

I had this crazy idea to go full-time with my blog.

It’s not too crazy, but just a bit. Of course, I’m not saying that you’re crazy if you go full-time with your blog! I just don’t think it’s right for me yet. I’ve thought about this long and hard – trust me. There are so many benefits to working full-time for a large company, such as PTO, health benefits, 401k matching, etc.

I listened to The Skinny Confidential Him & Her podcast and Lauryn said that if you know what you want to do, then become a bartender or a pilates instructor to keep yourself afloat while you work on your business. My theory is a bit different.

For me, I don’t have that big of a social media audience yet and I don’t really blog regularly. Before I can make the leap, I need to make sure that my blog is stable. I also want to have a few years of experience under my belt so if my blog doesn’t work out, I wouldn’t have to start at an entry-level job. I have always wanted to work in an office setting and be part of the C-Suite.

As I mentioned earlier, I do want to go for my MBA in the next few years. Even if I don’t end up using it, I still want to be able to say I did it and I tried.

My Game Plan for Post-Graduate

I’ve decided that this is my game plan for the next couple of years – in terms of career.

First, work. Haha, I will die from excitement if I get to work at an agency. I’ve heard from friends in the industry that working at an agency is no joke. It’s a lot of work at a super-fast pace – bring it on. From there, I still need to figure out if I want to go into Marketing or Public Relations. I think Public Relations suits me and my personality a bit better.

Once I find a job in Public Relations at an agency, I’ll work there for 3-5 years before applying to grad schools. Perhaps I will find a company that will help with tuition reimbursement.

Next, become a titan in Public Relations!

Just thinking about this gets me so excited! I mentioned this a while ago, but a huge part of me wanted to move to New York. After thinking about it, New York can’t provide me the lifestyle that I want. I want a charming house with a backyard. I think the reason why I wanted to move to New York so badly is to say that ‘I’ve made it‘.

To me, New York embodies this idea of success – by the words of Alicia Keys, ‘if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.’ I’ll write a more in-depth blog post about this. It’s a long self-reflection.

I feel like I’m going on a tangent right now, so I will stop! I’m confused as to where I want to spend the rest of my life but Arizona is so beautiful and is growing at a fast-pace. I don’t really have much to complain about Phoenix, but I think one of these days, I’m just going to pack up and jump into the unknown. Does anyone else feel that way?

I suppose this is my current game plan:

1. Work at a big Public Relations firm
2. Buy a townhome
3. Get an MBA
4. Get engaged/married (Tyler said Q2 of 2021, hehe)
5. Work until my brain is fried
6. Live Happily Ever After

Haha, thank you for reading about my quarter-life crisis.

I think quarter-life crises aren’t only applicable to those in their early to mid-20s, or maybe mid-20s to early 30s. It’s more so when a big life change happens. For me, that was when I graduate college and realize that I’m no longer a student and have to focus on the whole world of adulting.