Growing up is a bittersweet journey. You get to start seizing opportunities, plunge into risky-but-rewarding endeavors, and take steps to help build upon your dreams. Of course, it’s a treacherous journey to make these dreams into realities. From balancing school, to work, and socializing with family and friends, a lot of these new responsibilities can start to consume you as you’re trying to navigate through them effortlessly without having a mental breakdown. But what no one tells you about is that inevitable breakdown, otherwise known as “the quarter life crisis.” The quarter life crisis is a period of time where, between the ages of 18-25, us Millennials on the cusp of experiencing the most changes in our lives undergo a search for meaning. We begin to ponder, examine and reflect on the choices we’ve made and ones we’re being forced to make that will ultimately determine our futures. As I’m beginning to undergo this process myself, I’ve jotted down some signs to help you recognize if you’re going through this, as well.
1. You go about your daily routine waiting for your mac-and-cheese to be done in the microwave, or seating some customers to a table or taking notes in class when you suddenly ask, “What am I doing with my life?”
2. You innocently scroll on Facebook only to see your peers are posting updates on all of their wonderful job promotions, internships and accolades.
3. And if they’re not in school or working, they’re getting married or starting families of their own.
3. And if they’re not in school or working, they’re getting married or starting families of their own. 
4. You begin to feel you’re in this unspoken battle to remain relevant with every man and woman for themselves.
5. And not only does the pressure of your peers’ success linger over you, but the ever-present encouragement from your friends and family can also feel like added pressure to be doing great things.
6. On top of that, you also realize you’re in your last years of being a teen and being thrown into the threshold of adulthood, whether you like it or not.
7. It’s like you’ve been sleeping this whole time and were awoken from a dream.
8. You’re also worried that just like you thought high school would define you, you feel college will, too.
9. It feels like there’s so much to do and so little time and you’re worried you won’t have enough to be able to do all you hope to accomplish.
10. Even when you manage to get one thing off your plate, you still feel behind, like you’ve merely scratched the surface.
11. One little missed test or mediocre essay wouldn’t usually get under your skin, but those little slip-ups start to chip away at you, feeling more important than they actually are.
12. You start to snowball all of your mistakes and fears into this deep dark hole that you bury yourself into and only you are capable of getting yourself out of.
13. You feel like Barney or Disney should have prepared you for this.
14. You feel defeated, drained even.
15. You start to have more of an appreciation for things that require zero thinking. Like sleep.
16. And food.
17. And people are going through the same process, or have been there themselves.
18. You consider dropping everything and just starting over.
19. But you realize that this is all a part of becoming an adult. Just like tough times in the past, this too will pass.
20. You may need some time to pick up the pieces, but you’re slowly weaving them back together and one step closer to solving the puzzle. You may even go through this process more than once, several times even, but you know you can beat this.
Forgive the process and forgive yourself. This may feel like the end of the world right now, but it’s actually just the beginning. Keep battling through those trenches knowing that there is hard-earned bliss in sight.
Hang in there, Millennials.
