Quarterlife Crisis

Thanh Pham
Sep 2, 2018 · 3 min read

It’s what I’m going through at the moment. Staying true to my generation.

I was born in December 1991, just one week before the year became 1992. I could have joined the 1992 people but my parents thankfully got my birth certificate done on time. I’ll turn 27 this year.

I grew up, graduated from a local college, got into teaching for my first job, quit after a year. Moved on into the cryptocurrency industry right after, first as a Customer Support agent, now as an Operations executive. I’ve settled down comfortably for the last 2 years and 8 months.

This is not a sign of me wanting to jump ship. I’ve created my own nest here, and the pragmatic me wouldn’t allow myself to abandon it that easily. This is a sign of me seeing people my age do things that seem more meaningful that what I’m doing. This is a sign of me wanting to taste the greener grass.

I had a conversation about this with a close friend two weeks ago. He’s a 48 year old man with his own two businesses and a wealth of life experience. The lesson learned from that conversation is not that new to me (or you): Whatever you do, plan it first. Truth be told, I have no idea on how to do exactly that.

Plan? What plan?

The barest bones of this plan have to do with food (unsurprisingly).

The much lauded Vietnamese breakfast (source: catknitorcatnip)

I bake bread in my free time. I have a dampened sourdough starter slowly bubbling away in the fridge and over 2kg of all-purpose flour in the pantry. Bread making to me is therapeutic — there’s a fair amount of physical (punching and flapping the hell out of your dough) and no less waiting time as you’re not supposed to touch the dough once the gluten network is developed.

While it’s a good idea to expand what you love into a career, in this economy of this South East Asian country where bread isn’t that deep of a tradition, you need a detailed plan. I don’t have any.

It’s proof that the nest I’ve created for myself is getting too warm and homey.

Short-term plan: Try to master bread baking at home. Focus on artisanal bread because the baker herself is lactose intolerant and afraid of sugar (a story for another time). Attend a local bread baking class. Learn Italian.

Long-term plan: Take a trip to Italy. A short one, maximum 4 weeks as I don’t expect to work for a salary there (no matter how little). Learn as much as I can about bread. Make a business out of it.

Clearly, I need to put more details in the long-term plan.

Get real

There’s the nest I’ve built. My current job is a very comfortable one salary-wise even with all of its pressure for accuracy and vigilance for hacking attempts. It’s what I’m good at (I think).

There are my parents who are now well-retired and whom I need to take care of. There’s the boyfriend who’s probably thinking of starting his own plan, having asked me to accompany him to his sister’s wedding in his hometown at the end of this month.

Money is not really an issue right now but will be once my long-term plan starts.

Truth be told, I’m nowhere nearly ready for anything.

Thanh Pham

Written by

1991. Your typical off-putting millennial.

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