I'm in my mid-20's - and I've really under a case of "is this all there really is?" recently.
I've been at my job for about 7 months now, and make enough to save a good percentage of it. It's not a lot, but enough to live on and save.
However, when I look at my colleagues, they've been there 5-10 years. I'm not convinced I buy the daily grind. My life, each week, seems like it's passing by faster and faster - it's like I'll blink and be 30, 35, 40 soon. Is this really where I want to be?
I've been trying to do things to involve myself in the community more - I teach a 3-hr English class on Sundays for adult immigrants. I get a lot of joy out of it.
Also, a lot of my savings has been going into a travel fund. Its balance right now could afford me a 3-month trip somewhere, but I'm saving for a yr-long. Sometimes at work, I daydream about taking a big risk - like leaving all this and teaching English in Korea or something, just something not office-like, but where I could still keep saving to reach my travel goal.
And then that returns to the "should I take the plunge?" "am I really better 'enough' to take such a risk?" That's the pesky thing about the rat race, this daily grind thing - there's safety in it somehow, even though we're really all at-will employees in this economy.
What to do, what to do - maybe I don't need to decide right away. I want to use a frame of 'what would I regret more?' I know I'm going to take the trip eventually - now it's figuring out the means to save for the trip!