Jenai’s Battle — One Woman’s Quarter Life Crisis

Rohan Bhatnagar
Nov 7 · 2 min read
MONTCLAIR, N.J. 11/03/2019 MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY: This is Jenai Copeland. She has tried flight school and was inspired to be a pilot. — Photo by Rohan Bhatnagar

Most people have heard of a mid-life crisis, but at age 30, Jenai Copeland had what she called, “ A Quarter-Life Crisis”. At that time she was working as a residence hall counselor, and decided that it was best to resign and go to flight school. To make this possible, she moved home and quickly learned that flight school was very challenging for many reasons. Aside from being expensive, it was uncomfortable and time-consuming, because she had to learn a lot of new skills. She needed to learn how to manage and land the aircraft, and also about meteorology. During her quarter-life crisis, another major event occurred: her father and her stepfather passed away in the same year.

Obviously, Jenai and her family were upset by this situation and it took them a long time to heal. Jenai believed that her quarter-life crisis happened for a reason. Because she had to move back home with her family, she was able to spend time with them before and after both of her fathers passed away. It made her realize that she wanted to be a pilot for the wrong reasons, and that her true passion was working with people. She still wanted to travel and explore, but knew that she enjoyed working with people more than that. Again, she changed her life and is now getting her masters degree in social work. This very sad time will have a lasting impact on her life. She is grateful for her chance to pursue this career and use her gifts.

She has learned many things, but most importantly she has learned to trust her intuition. This is the advice that she would give to others in her situation; be honest with yourself. Because Jenai was honest with herself, she was able to decide what was best for her and what made her happy. She would like to see others in this position use this time to explore their passions, and not be afraid to take risks. She had to step out of her comfort zone to become a student there, but also to quit and come back to flight school. Because she took that risk and learned what she wanted, she was able to grow into the person that she is today.

Written by

My name is Rohan Bhatnagar and I am a Junior in Montclair State University. I am a TV and Digital Media major.

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