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The Possibility Crisis of Your Late 20s

The Possibility Crisis of Your Late 20s

Soul Gum vor 2 Monaten

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27:59

If your early twenties are for your Sylvia Plath fig tree
allegory crisis, then your late twenties are for your Joan Didion
Goodbye to All That crisis. In her famous 1967 essay, Didion
writes, “That was the year, my twenty-eighth, when I was
discovering that not all of the promises would be kept, that some
things are in fact irrevocable and that it had counted after all,
every evasion and every procrastination, every mistake, every
word, all of it.”

This episode explores a strain of existential dread that often
shows up in your late twenties: the possibility crisis. Sometimes
it hits you after capital-S Something happens. A bad break up, a
wounding professional failure, or a friendship ending that felt
like betrayal. Other times, there is no one defining moment or
incident. You just realize one day that you are no longer as
bright eyed, bushy tailed, or hopeful as you used to be, and
can’t put your finger on why.

Using Didion’s Goodbye to All That as our guide, we break down
three key signs you might be experiencing a possibility crisis
and what it might be trying to teach you. Along the way, we
talk about how to cope with the realization that certain doors
really do close, what to do when new people stop feeling full of
promise, and how to let go of the fantasy that someday you’ll
magically know what you’re doing. Consider this episode a field
guide on the strange grief of growing up.

EPISODE OUTLINE

00:00 Intro

04:23 What made Joan Didion great?

05:13 Signs of a Goodbye to All That crisis

05:46 1. You realize future you is just you

07:41 Weird girl money

08:22 The 90s’ overly adult depiction of your 30s

10:41 2. You stop believing in new faces

11:32 Hope springs eternal on Love Island

12:09 Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first

12:58 POV you’re 28 & have met every person alive

13:55 3. Some doors are actually closing

14:52 The first time I felt a door close

16:14 When the doors start slamming left & right

17:03 It’s easy to see beginnings and harder to see ends

18:54 Perspective shifts that got me out of this crisis

19:29 1. Idk what I’m doing but neither does anyone else

20:59 2. Trust means more when it’s a choice not an instinct

21:45 3. On “it’s never too late”

22:27 Possibility must be unactualized to exist

23:10 The U-shaped happiness curve

23:55 Has the internet made the possibility crisis start
earlier?

24:28 Socioemotional selectivity theory

25:25 The happy ending Joan Didion doesn’t tell you

EPISODE LINKS

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