There’s an afterglow when returning to your regular life
After a night of coming close to the life for which you actually strive
So now I’m trying to figure out just why I’m in this funk
Despite good friends, the weekend, and getting slightly drunk
Connecting to an audience, a spectacular performance
Now I’m wondering why these passions must return to lying dormant?

Maybe it’s my job, the most obvious scapegoat?
My consolation prize for not making it as an artist
With dreams turned to hobbies, labor turned to rent
Feeling burnt out from all the efforts that I’ve spent
Sacrificing myself to the daily grind
While after work doing nothing but zoning out behind
A variety of screens in a desperate attempt to unwind
Moratorium on all projects except for the tasks I’ve been assigned

Tell me, how do you find joy in your mid-to-late twenties?

Maybe it’s mental illness, and potential diagnoses?
If I start taking medication will it affect me artistically?
End the ups and downs, be the perfect worker bee
End the sadness but also the impassioned creativity!!
I’m skeptical of pharmaceuticals, as I am of psychiatry
But who’s to say the many ways my life could improve
If I’d only start believing in psychopharmacology?

Tell me, how do you find joy in your mid-to-late twenties?

Maybe it’s my love life, and related neuroses?
Worried I’m being too aloof, worried I’m being too clingy!
My fatalistic expectations that it eventually must end in misery
Getting hung up on the details, wondering why he didn’t kiss me?
Or if I should take it as a sign that he forgets our plans so many times!
And though he’s claimed repeatedly to be alright with polyamory
Who’s to say he will not be exactly like the previous three
Who claimed that was their deal-breaker after months of relating openly?

Tell me, how do you find joy in your mid-to-late twenties?

Maybe it’s my diet, or my erratic patterns of sleep?
But it’s hard to be regular with the hectic hours I keep
None of which is improved by the quantities I drink!
Or maybe it’s all just the Pacific Northwest?
And my resulting severe lack of Vitamin D!