CINDY, INCIDENTALLY:

A friend of mine recently quit her job as a daily newspaper reporter to become a trucker.

She gave up the company 401K, HMO health benefits and a somewhat prestigious title to become a trucker who drives through the heartland of America and dines on country fried steak at truck stops.

Expectedly, there were a few wagging eyebrows and whispering that she was in the midst of a quarter-life crisis: “personal crises brought on by entering adulthood and being expected to become a responsible, productive member of society,” (UrbanDictionary.com).

But crisis or not, she leaped.

These days, you can find her learning how to parallel-park a big-rig in an open field in Fontana and guess what?

She’s ecstatic about life again. (You can read her blog at www.gypsytrucker.blogspot.com)

In the last few years I have watched friends leave high-profile jobs to become a bread baker, yoga instructor, masseuse, actor, handbag designer, shoe designer, waitress, comedienne, singer, third-grade teacher and curator of an art gallery.

Some of them decided slowly and went back to school part-time.

Others took on a hobby that grew into a new career, and then there are the brazen few who just scrapped it all and left in a blaze of irreverent glory.

As I sit here in Sacramento, in an apartment strewn with cardboard boxes and an impending move back to Southern California — a result of my own quarter-life crisis — I’ve been thinking a lot about a quote by author Joseph Campbell:

“Follow your bliss. Find where it is, and don’t be afraid to follow it.”

Young professionals today, we don’t stay put like our parents did and even less like our grandparents.

Most of us don’t think about putting in 30-some-years at a company to retire with a sweet pension plan.

I think we may start out with those intentions, but that’s not the reality.

I wonder what that says about us. Are we immature? Irresponsible? Dreamers? Restless? Fickle?

Have we read too many novels about “fighting the man” or did we O.D. too much on movies like “Office Space,” where the work cubicle is a symbol of a life without meaning?

This new column was created specifically for the young professionals in Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley.

I use the word “young” very loosely, because age is more often than not a state of mind versus a number.

Topics will range from the best spots for bike riding, philanthropy and nightlife to fashion trends and career musings. Essentially, anything and everything about which people in this community are talking or worrying.

Following one’s bliss is a trend-affecting people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond. I don’t think that’s something that goes away with age, because attaining happiness is more of a journey than an actual destination.

CINDY ARORA is a freelance writer for the Independent.