Once upon a time I thought that 24 was old and that as an adult I would have free reign of my life. This meant that I would wake up at 10 AM and I would swim in a pool of sugar cookies and French fries. No one would or could tell me what to do and I would be a free woman. I could be anything I wanted to be and it would all be easy and lovely and if you ever get a chance to see a photo of me at age nine, you will notice that there are tiny rainbows where my pupils should be.

So I was mildly delusional and unprepared for the massive amounts of confusion that would sprout out of my early and mid-20’s. Nothing catastrophic of course but when burdened with several years of questioning each and every decision out of fear that one wrong move will totally eff up your life and you’ll end up homeless with a dead end career…well then the hysteria? It ends up kind of maddening. That initial onslaught of trying to figure out the current job vs. future goals conundrum is daunting and it helps to have some sort of community of people who know exactly how you feel at this very second. Even if it is not the biggest thing in the world and doesn’t necessitate the use of exclamation points, there is still this burden lifted when hearing from others who are trudging through at the same time. Elysa has started this great series called ABCs of Gen Y. Here are three of my favorites and includes one written by a ‘BlogHim’:

B is for Balance written by Tiffany Monhollon

It means not worrying that there’s no five-step formula for living a balanced life, even though if there were, I would have a lot easier time writing this post.

The truth is, I have a pretty typically busy twentysomething life: I don’t exactly have balance down yet. The best I get some days is go, go, go, crash. Sometimes, that’s the best I can approximate balance. But hey, I’m trying. And I think that’s the key to balance. Working at it.

C is for Career written by Kaity Mahoney

As I push my way to a seat on the 7:50pm outbound train, I scroll through my blackberry reading the last email of the day. I type a quick note, press send, and slide the device into my bag. Settling in, I begin to think about this post and what it means to have a career in your twenties. At this moment, I feel that it is extremely exhausting - so I think back to earlier in the day. To my morning routine of coffee and emails, to the chaos that ensued with meetings to be had and deadlines to hit - and I wonder, why do I do it? For me, this stress-driven day is what challenges me and keeps me on my toes. It’s what motivates me and pushes me to reach my goals.

M is for Money by Michael Rubin

Your problem isn’t Starbucks.

Many financial experts feel that the problems of the world (and especially of young people) would instantly disappear if we could only get rid of our coffee shops.

Look, if you’re going to Starbucks five times a day, spending $100+ a week there, you’ve got problems. But your money problem isn’t the first one to address. Of course, most people don’t use Starbucks that way, and so what the financial talking heads miss is that nobody—not even the most coffee-addicted person you know—is going to find ten grand a year by pinching pennies at Starbucks.

Like any major life event, the navigation is a hell of a lot easier when there is a group of people on the ride with you, willing to help you read the map. Elysa has built and continues to build a great community of 20 somethings that are more than willing to share their personal experiences with others to help abate that feeling of being alone.