I'm nearly 26, overeducated, overworked, and underpaid. I'm going back to school to put my student loans back into deferment. (the Dr. before my name will be a nice bonus thought)

I'm in the realm of psychology, where we're notoriously underpaid and overworked. Add that into the nonprofit sector, and burnout by age 30 has a very high probability. Why didn't I go into engineering? Oh right, because I can't do anything more mathematically complex than add, and even that is hit or miss.

Sometimes I feel like I'm but a shell of my former self - yes, I have a good, solid job, a good education, and an amazing boyfriend (really, I've outdone myself finding him). I eat right, I exercise (I even yoga) and my binge drinking college days have morphed into wine trips to Temecula with picnic lunches. Gone are my wild days of reckless abandon, drinking with my girl friends until the sun came up (and sometimes continuing past), irresponsible spending in the form of world travel, and late mornings and late nights.

Why is being a grown up so lame? Bills, taxes, benefits packages. Hmph. Oh well, someday I'll live my life like the Real Housewives of Orange County, well, I would, if not for student loan repayments superseding any possibility of being able to afford a home and plastic surgery. Good thing I can still afford my stylist, as I slowly creep from redhead to California blond. At least I'm not grey... yet.

I am almost looking more forward to being 30 than in my mid twenties. This in between-y lifestyle is cramping my style. Of course, I'm not sure if it's the time period of my life, or the fact that the country is in a deep recession, and the reason I have so much debt is because I lived like a celebrity when I was but a middle-class rural girl playing college student in the city. Details, details.

Ah well, I maintain my sunny demeanor and look forward to the future. This weekend, Mike and I are attending two social events. This might help with the mundane of 9-5 (well, I creep in around 9:30, but you get my point). I spent a week in Hawaii for one of our conferences and was able to scratch off another state that I've been to (31 and counting!) Mike and I have a mini vacation planned next month for our 2 year anniversary, which is much needed. Finding the things to laugh about help.

I guess I wouldn't categorize my mid 20s as a time of emotional turmoil or of deep introspection, instead, I feel like the whole world in hunkered down, waiting for something to happen - I just happen to be in my 20s while it's happening.