The Quarter Life Crisis

This past summer I had just recently turned 25 and was getting ready to head to Charleston in a few weeks for one of my best friend's wedding. My mom had just finished reading Dana Perino's book And the Good New Is... [an amazing book by the way] and offered to let me borrow it for some in-flight reading, after all this was serving as my 72 hour vacation for the year. When I was at mom and dad's house that weekend, mom started talking about the book and certain sections she thought would really resonate with me, one in particular being the quarter life crisis chapter. I think mom was kind of surprised to read that this phenomenon we all hashtag about was, in fact, very real. We had all joked about it as our birthdays came and went, but now being on the downward slide to 26 I can whole heartedly say, 

IT IS REAL. 

As of yesterday, I have been in Knoxville and at Tombras for officially five months. 

As of yesterday, I launched my first campaign I had built from scratch: sketched out flowchart to excel flowchart to pitching to the marketing board to approval to working Easter weekend to sending out buys. 

25 has brought more trials than any other year of my life. For the first time in my adult life, I was faced with making a decision for my future and dealing with the consequences. I remember when I was 20 and decided to go to Knoxville for a weekend in the summer, mom's parting words to me were I could make my own decisions but that didn't mean I wouldn't have consequences to deal with. Well, the consequences get a lot bigger when you're 25 and moving to Knoxville...

Knoxville has brought an incredible amount of blessings to my life, but not without those nights driving home in tears. I waited an entire day to tell mom I wasn't going to be home for Easter because I didn't think I'd be able to without losing it. Holy Week and Easter have always been an incredibly special week for mom and I and not being able to come home was killing me. But in true mom fashion, she gave me the greatest pep talk a mother could give. I was having my first adult holiday, it didn't mean I wasn't still part of the family. I was giving my career the attention and dedication I needed to and was making this move, in a way, worth it. 

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought at almost 26 I would be back in Knoxville. But look at all it has brought to me: a media team that have become some of my best friends, friends who have literally become family [Christmas and Easter family celebrations that have opened their hearts and dinner table to me], national accounts that are my own, weekends in the mountains with the family have become more frequent, real food in the fridge, and I have come to truly appreciate those true friends in life who miles don't matter with.

The #QuarterLifeCrisis is real but I wouldn't trade this experience or adventure for anything.