Mid-life crisis? No, way bigger….QUARTER-LIFE CRISIS

It’s been a topic that has always been so far away. Hasn’t affected me, been in conversations with friends, nor has it even crossed my mind. It was a distant topic, as foreign as let’s say, going through menopause. But more and more, I am seeing this phrase (read: monumental stage of life) surface. Whether it’s someone who is going through the “what am I doing with my life” and simply hasn’t labeled their issue as their “quarter-life crisis” or if it’s someone a bit more dramatic, like me, who proclaims “holy crap. Quarter-life crisis. Chapter one. HERE WE GO!”

Either way, it is exactly what it says it is. A crisis. when you’re about 25. Give or take a few months, or give or take a few years! It happens to the best of us. And whether or not we’re in full blown crisis mode, however slowly it creeps up, we all have those days where we wonder…

Am I where I’m supposed to be?
Am I doing what I’m supposed to be doing?
Should I go back to school?
Will spending all that money really help me in the end?
Have I met him yet?
Have I accomplished enough to tuck into my pre-25 folder?
What do I need to be doing to get to where I want to be in the next 10 years?
Where will I be in the next 10 years?
Who will I be in the next 10 years?
Who will be standing next to me in 10 years?
Why didn’t I study abroad in college? (oh…I digress)


WHO ELSE FEELS THIS PRESSURE?

I have seen countless friends run these questions over and over. A lot of times it has to do with career oriented issues, and so many of those other times it’s about relationships. At the mid-20s, you can no longer claim the infamous “I-just-got-out-of-college” because plain and simple, you’ve now been OUT of college just as long as you were IN college. We’re far too old to run to our parents and hide behind them. Far too mature to NEED our parents. (So. Not. True.) It’s no longer about depending on your friends to make decisions for you…it’s about figuring out for yourself what you want, what you need, and what you need to do to get there.

Of course, your friends and family are always going to be there – supporting you, offering advice. But it’s advice, just that. And it’s from an outside standpoint. At this stage of the game, we know ourselves best. We know better than to ignore those little voices, the knot in the pit of our stomach, the strings tugging at our heart…we know that they are so much more than intangible hindrances. They mean something, boy oh boy do they mean something.

But what I do think that friends can offer at this so-called crisis point is comfort. The realization that yes, I may in theory be living through and having to solve this crisis on my own…but everyone is in the same boat. True, others may have it easier (or worse) but everyone, in their own way, has their own quarter-life crisis.

Here’s to leaning on each other and really believing in ourselves. With the right mix of that, raw soul searching, a pinch of confidence and a great sense of humor about LIFE…I haven’t a doubt that we’ll all make it to our…mid-life crisis!

Cheers to that!