January: The Defining Decade (Tristinn's Review)

People who have had the pleasure of living near me know that when I have just read something that I thoroughly enjoyed, I feel compelled to share it with others. This generally takes the form of talking about it incessantly, encouraging (which sometimes verges on bullying) others to read it, and applying small parts of it to my life. This month's book has been no different.

The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them by Meg Jay was a refreshing change of pace. I'm currently slogging my way through grad school which includes a fair amount of academic article reading. The normal day-to-day topics include learner identity, what type of learning strategies ESL learners employ, how to construct a good questionnaire, etc. Sometimes I forget that I have a life outside of graduate school and that reading for pleasure is a thing that still exists.

The goal of The Defining Decade is just that, to focus on the "life outside of graduate school" and to encourage 20-somethings to take that life seriously. In the book, the author, who is a psychologist by trade, relates some of her experiences with 20-something patients and demonstrates how 20-somethings are often living their lives completely oblivious to the fact that time is always on the move. She stresses that we WON'T live forever and that the decisions we make in our 20s have a profound effect on our happiness later in life.

The book was simultaneously encouraging and stressful to read. After reading the into (this is where the author talks about all the things 20-somethings aren't doing right) I thought, "Oh my gosh!  I'm ruining my life! There are so many things I'm doing wrong".  However subsequent chapters made me feel much better about myself and the book became more empowering than devastating. If I was going to describe the feeling I had after reading this book in one word, I would probably say urgency. Life is simply not long enough to put off all of life's major decisions until "later".  Now has a huge effect on our potential later.

So if you're in your 20s or if you feel like you're in the middle of a rut, read this book. It may inspire you and give you the sense of urgency you need to actually make the powerful decisions that will affect the rest of your life.

WILLIAMS SCALE RATING: A crisp refreshing salad with savory balsamic vinegar.

{For those of you not familiar with the Williams Scale, it is a scale based on food.  The lowest it can go is three-month-old rotting beans in the sunshine and the highest it can go is warm, gooey brownie with peppermint ice cream drizzled with homemade hot fudge and sprinkled with peppermint flakes.}