A middle life crisis is a perfect cliche. Realizing you're aging and not knowing what to do with your fading youth. Suddenly discovering that the path you've been taking isn't as satisfying as you believed years ago. Having a new chapter to face as challenges come your way that are official "adult problems." So you go out, you buy a sports car, get a tattoo, and start dyeing your grays away. Everyone knows of the legend and almost expects to come across that period of discontent in their forties or fifties.
Yet, far underappreciated is the quarter-life crisis. That moment at the end of your teenage years and the start of your twenties where you have to face that you are no longer a child and not yet an adult. A new coming reality of responsibility unlike the previous ones of making sure you got to school on time. For those of you thinking this may be you, I have a couple of questions for you to see if you're experiencing this ~~fantastic phenomenon~~:
- Do you no longer relate to those rowdy that you're "technically" still seen with?
- Are you constantly struggling with the fact that some people consider you a full-fledged adult?
- Do you have popping joints and aching bones similar to that of an 80-year-old marathoner for no exact reason?
- Are you questioning your life purpose or the path you are starting on for your career?
If you answered YES to one or several of these questions: congratulations! You, along with plenty of other young adults around the globe, are questioning life's purpose!! Personally, I've been finding myself in this position recently as I've realized that I only truly ever considered one career path. With so many passions, yet-to-be-developed interests, and a wide range of skills, I can't help but feel that the difficulties I'm facing in pursuing my chosen career path are for a reason. Is God trying to tell me to redirect or is He just strengthening my work ethic for this demanding profession? Should I be changing my major now and taking more broad classes to find other career ideas? But what if I fall behind and don't graduate on time?
Yup. A quarter life crisis.
So how do we deal? I suppose my advice would be a mixture of finding answers for yourself and looking to those around you. While yes, it's critical for you to think these messy thoughts out on your own, the people who care about you will want to help! Be it in a pros-cons list, recent happenings in your life that might be influencing you or could help you see an answer, or just being a sounding board for you to feel like you aren't alone in figuring out what to do for the next 40+ years.
Mostly I want to say this: follow your passions. Why wait for someone else to lead the way and allow you to come too? Why pursue a career you're going to be unhappy in? Why be unsatisfied when you can be on top of the world? Find what makes you tick and go for it - wholeheartedly.
