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Quarterlife Crisis Anyone?

posted 1st March 2010    Written by: Katie    CATEGORY: All Posts, Inspiration, Katie, Quarterlife Crisis, Season 2, What I've Learned

I’m the exception to every rule.

No, I’m serious. Every. Single. Rule.

As women, we are expected to be emotional, prepared, successful, happy creatures who know exactly what we want and how to get it. I don’t know who created these expectations, but I want them shot, or at least put through a super-scientific experiment where we inject their lives with the Quarterlife Crisis.

When I heard about Stratejoy, I was, I’d say, 430% skeptical. I had bought every self help book there is to buy from every bookstore on the east coast. I spent countless hours sitting in my room, reading through books that tried to tell me how to get out of the slump that I was in based on other people’s experiences.

I don’t know if it’s me, but relating to others who have nothing in common with me just doesn’t work.

Before I committed to doing the Stratejoy Joy Equation program, and long before I applied to be a guest blogger, I decided to look into it a little bit more. I wanted to find the loophole where it said that the program was not for me. Maybe it was just for professional women;  Or married women;  Or women who knew what they wanted; None of which described me at all.

So… I read a few of the blog posts by Molly and her group of  Season One bloggers.

At one point, I had to get up and walk away from my computer.  Who were these women? How did they know exactly how I was feeling? You mean, I’m not a freak of nature? It was in that moment that I was sold on the idea of giving the program a try. If nothing else, to prove Molly wrong. To prove that there was someone out there that this program wouldn’t work for.

It might sound like I was being a bit negative – and I was.

When you go through a bunch of disappointments in life,  you learn not to expect too much from anyone or anything. I didn’t want to expect a life changing experience from Stratejoy, not get it, and be eternally depressed that I am truly a freak of nature who can’t be helped.

But I did it.

Within 3 hours, I had my first e-mail from Molly. A welcoming ‘hello’ and the very first writing assignment. I buzzed right through it, and waiting patiently for the next day. It was one of the first few assignments that knocked me out of the water and changed the way I looked at things forever. I was asked to recall the last time I was truly happy, and to describe how I felt.

Easy, right? For most people, sure. But not for me, not the exception to the rule. I realized after 30 minutes of steady thought cramming that I wasn’t able to remember when I was happy. Or how I felt when I was happy. Or anything with the word happy in it. Except Happy Gilmore. Awesome movie.

It was in that moment that I made the realization that I don’t pay enough attention to the moments in which I’m happy, and I focus a lot on the negative. This was a powerful thing for me to realize, and since that revelation, I’ve focused a lot more on living in the moment and being totally open to all of my emotions, especially happiness.

And that realization came on the third or fourth day. I still had 20+ days to go.

The Stratejoy program was a month filled with laughter, tears, life decisions, and mending. All of my life questions weren’t answered at the end of the program, but I do feel like I know what I want next, and how I need to go about doing it.  I had made a new friend in Molly, who when she called me for our “Jam Session”, was easier to talk to than I had ever imagined.

The other day I was talking with a friend and we got to the game of “20 Questions”. He asked me what person inspired me most in 2010. I answered a proud, “Molly Hoyne. Because her Joy Equation helped me find myself underneath the years of pain, frustration, and fear. I now wake up and am excited to spend the day with myself. That says a lot for someone who hated her skin for years.”

He replied; “So really, your most inspiring person is yourself.”

Touche, Friend. Touche.

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Sharing My Gratitude

posted 30th November 2009    Written by: Robyn    CATEGORY: All Posts, Quarterlife Crisis, Robyn, Season 1

Robyn's FamilySo I am starting off the blog this week with the theme of the month: Gratitude.  Of course, Thanksgiving was the perfect time to really think about what you are grateful for and all the things you should be appreciating on a daily basis.

When I narrow it down, here’s what I am grateful for:

My Family and Friends

Despite the freezing temperatures in Chicago, I always look forward to the winter season because that means the holidays are here, and that means my loved ones will all be together.  I have a small extended family, which should make it easy to all get together, but sadly, getting everyone together under one roof is actually a rare occasion.

That’s why the holiday season is so important to me.

I have family members fly across the country to come home for the holidays. I have two younger sisters in college out-of-state.  I have cousins who have grown up and scattered themselves from California to New York to Texas.  I have high school friends and college roommates who come home for the holidays.

Between job commitments and school and geographic locations, it’s tough to find time to get everyone together. During the year, I can always count on phone calls, emails, and even Facebook statuses to know what everyone is up to, but those things could never compare to being face-to-face with those I care about most.

I’m so grateful for this one time a year when we can all gather to catch up and hear about each other’s lives in person.

My Health and Well-Being

I have been quite lucky this year!  I can’t even complain of a simple cold that I got this year, let alone H1N1!  (Knock on wood)…

I have never felt better.

After leaving my horrid corporate job, I truly rid myself of a lot of stress and negative energy that I had built up day after day. At the time, I didn’t even realize what an effect it had on my well-being.  Many times, I would feel tired or sluggish or just plain lazy after a day at my desk, but now it’s just the opposite.

I have been revived!  I am bursting with energy and so over-the-top happy that I have actually been stopped in the middle of the grocery store and asked why I was so “smiley”. I didn’t even have an answer… I am just plain happy with my life and happy with myself.  I find that I am more active and taking better care of myself, and I am so grateful for my recent life changes and the positive effect they have had on my body and mind.

Speaking of happiness, I’d also like to do a little shout out for Molly’s online course, The Joy Equation: A 30-Day Guide To Living Life On Purpose.  I recently completed The Joy Equation and found that it gently guided me as I dealt with my Quarterlife Crisis head on.  It helped me to get all my thoughts out on paper so that I could consider what my current concerns were and work through each one.  It guided me through forming a plan to take one day at a time with the only goal being to lead a happier and more fulfilling life.

I definitely give this course some credit for my current level of satisfaction regardless of all the uncertainties that lie ahead. And I am definitely grateful for that!

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