A Difference in Generations

In my attempt to find other blogs that I could relate to, I searched "mid-twenties" because I had labelled myself as a mid-twenties gal and figured others would put themselves into that category as well. After ignoring most and skimming some I realized that the mid-twenties of my generation in general, share one major thing in common...we are all trying to figure out what to do with our lives.
The majority of us have gone through some sort of post-secondary education be it college or university and have realized that for the most part, those experiences do nothing to point you in the direction of your future career. I learned valuable non academic things by attending university such as:
-Six day benders can be fun and hilarious given the right week and the right alcoholic beverage choices (let's not tell my mum that one)
-I do like red wine
-I never want to live with someone who has an eating disorder again
-Cooking isn't that hard and doing it with friends is the best way to do it
-I enjoy a good long walk
-Missing out on daylight due to a 5:00am bedtime and 4:30pm wake up is not enjoyable
-Drunk pool hopping is a great memory
-Never own a hamster while living in university amongst friends who enjoy drinking, poor shaved Hammie
-The friends you make and memories you make with them, if you're lucky, will last you a lifetime

I also learned a lot of academic things but for the most part, I feel my non-academic lessons (those above to name a few) were more valuable. I can write a paper, a short answer, an essay, do multiple choice, read a book, do research and debate but again...these skills have not led me to a specific career. I count myself lucky to be working in my field (Geographic Information Systems) at the moment because no one else I know has a job in their graduating field. However working in front of a computer all day has taught me something...I do NOT want to sit in front of a computer for the rest of my life. My eyes hurt, my shoulders ache, my wrists cramp up and I'm inside under flourescent lights. I can just feel the Vitamin D oozing out of me as I waste away in my cubicle, my 15 minute walk outdoors to the bus terminal after work being my favourite part of the day.

So these led me to think about the difference in generations. Why does my generation find it so hard to settle into the 9-5 or the cubicle or the daily grind? We ship ourselves off to Korea (for me), Australia (for my boyfriend), Europe, Asia or anywhere else that gives us a little more time to figure things out and experience something new all the while escaping the everyday real world. Is this because we have too many options these days? I mean women used to be a) teacher, b) secretary, c) nurse, d) mom. Now we can be anything we want but is that too overwhelming? Most people in my generation change careers three times before settling into one for good. Not to mention the general loathe for working my generation appears to have; if I could get $1.00 for every time I've heard my friends talk about winning the lottery and never working again I'd be richer than if they had actually won. It reminds me of Peter from Office Space being asked if he had a million dollars what would he do. And his answer was "nothing". He'd do nothing. Personally I'd love to travel and start a job in something I'm passionate about, not something that will deliver a big enough paycheck for me to stop worrying. So what's the deal with me and my generation? Why aren't we content working? I know I'm not exactly content with my job although I stick it out everyday. Is that what previous generations haven't told us, they they just stuck it out even though they hated their jobs? Maybe university taught us too much and now we feel we should have paychecks flung at us for little to no work. Who knows, all I know is me and my mid-twenties friends are a different generation that's for sure.