Rachel did what her parents wanted her to do. She became a physician. Rachel is proud of herself, but miserable. She doesn’t like practicing medicine. Rachel didn’t know what she wanted to do in college, but declared Art History as her major after she became enchanted by Picasso’s work. Soon after, Rachel’s parents encouraged her to switch her major to Pre-Med. Rachel did. Now, many years later, Rachel isn’t sure she is interested in an art career, but she can’t see herself continuing to be a physician for the rest of her life – a life she expects to continue for some time, especially given all of her grandparents lived to be at least 90 and none retired before age 70.
After Juan’s company outsourced their IT department, Juan is both out of a job and a sense of what to do with himself. The loss is real. Juan spent years agonizing about what type of career would be best for him, and after many false starts and much training and education, discovered he loved helping people solve their computer woes. Woe is just about right too; now Juan cannot find another job in IT and must embark on another journey of career exploration.
Notice that a career in a field that one feels passionate about is an issue for both Rachel and Juan. And their ability to pursue their passion is influenced by the increasing elasticity of the lifespan. Say what? Let me explain. The stages of the lifespan are as follows: Prenatal, Infancy and Toddlerhood, Early Childhood, Middle Childhood, Adolescence, Early Adulthood, Middle Adulthood, and Late Adulthood. Because life expectancy is increasing, the later stages of the lifespan are stretching.
For example, in the 1950s, most males graduating from high school were expected to marry and go to work, and most females were expected to marry and become housewives. Now we have more freedom and more opportunity. Many people attend college and spend time planning and investing in a career. As a result, psychologists no longer consider adolescence to end at age 18, but closer to 20 or maybe even 25. Age 40 is no longer over the hill. People in their sixties are are active and productive members of society.
Add to this global workforce competition, in which a stellar IT employee like Juan can lose his job to someone halfway across the planet.
As a result of the increasing elasticity of the lifespan and the global forces that alter our plans, many of us must now address the “Who Am I?” question once again later on in our lifetime, often beyond the teen years. In the next post, we will learn about how people do (and do not) go about this process of resolving an identity crisis – and perhaps even begin to follow their passion and do so successfully.
