twenty something

As a child I grew up trying to achieve the five milestones, even now as an adult I feel like I'm lacking in some way because I have not. But these "milestones" were set in a different time for a different generation, yes there were 'higher' expectations but they were also easier to attain. Now most young adults/adults face the struggle of not only going to school but working and if that isn't enough we are still faced with dealing with our daily lives. Take back 20 to 30 years and as soon as you finished college you were guaranteed as job, now you finish school with higher expectations and you still have to search and compete for a job and there is a much higher chance you won't get it. Take my sister for example she goes to school full-time and teaches and though she doesn't work she is soooo stressed out from her school work she really can't do anything else. She has been working on the same thesis for her masters degree in English for the passed two semesters and just can't seem to get it right. She stresses over bills, school loans, and how long it is taking her to complete school; she feels like a failure that she has yet to pass and is not married. I feel as if our generation has too much pressure, trends and expectations change everyday and as the market increases and cost of living goes up we shoot for higher paying jobs which calls for higher education, which in turn leads to more student loans. So even if we were to finish college by the age of 25, most people would still be living at home because their so indebted due to school loans that they can't afford to move out. I don't see our generation as underachievers, I see a group of people who are struggling daily to find the means to survive having to reassess their goals on a daily basis because what was once good enough is not.  Though I am resistant to admit that I have succumbed to believing the five milestones are necessary it is something I stress over and it eats at the back of my mind everyday but I will fight myself everyday because in all reality the only goal I need to strive for is to be happy. That's what life is about anyway right? Rather than working to live we now live to work, rather than being free some of us strap on our seat belts and try to take the school route and start a family just to fit in. No...not me. I have my own image of success.