What next?

I think I'm having my quarter-life crisis. I first heard this term when, a few months after having moved to the US for Grad School, I had complained to my brother about a sense of a lack of direction, a want of purpose, etc. Being older than I, he had probably already been there, so he wisely remarked 'Oh thats normal. You're just having your quarter-life crisis'. I thought it was an expression he had coined until I googled for it recently, and sure enough, there does seem to exist such a phenomenon. 

So why this crisis at so young an age? I mean, I don't really have anything thats particularly lacking in my life. As far as accomplishments go, I did get the education, the job, the financial security I wanted. It is kind of where I wanted to be, right? Kinda. Sorta. But somehow that doesn't feel quite enough. There's some restlessness I can't seem to explain. And after some self-assessment, I think I can sum up this feeling in just two words - what next?

All through my childhood and teens, I've always known what I wanted next. Good grades in high school board exams, so I can pick Math and Science as my electives, which in turn would help me pass the plethora of college entrance exams that we Indians can't seem to get enough of, followed by good grades in college so that I can get into a good masters' program at a top university, which of course would result in a great job. I wish I had a more comprehensive plan that for my life, but then, who does? (Or so I like to think) And now that I seem to have executed this "plan" that only extended into my mid-twenties, I am stuck with the question, what next? 

And that makes me a little anxious, since until recently, I seemed to always know the answer to that question. Of course, I know I'm not alone. If everyone knew what they wanted to do with their life, the world would be a simpler place. But for now, I'm still figuring out how to figure it out. And while I'm on it, can everyone who's been a subject of  my recent grouchiness, please just deal? :D

P.S: My brother suggested I go to Cafe Grumpy. Another thing I mistook for an expression until I saw this - http://www.cafegrumpy.com/ Maybe I will!

Also, T, M and Butterfly have already seen something similar in SQ, besides putting up with lot of whining of late...