As each and every one of my friends has turned 25, I’ve jokingly told them, “Happy Quarter Life Crisis!” We giggle. We smile. We have a good time. Then our lives move on with relative normality and very little change and it becomes just another birthday.
Then I turned 25. Well, I didn’t just TURN 25… I turned 25 within days of making one of the largest shifts a person could make in their life regardless of what age they are and it’s been terrifying… it’s been surreal and awesome and adventurous and stressful… and terrifying. I picked up my entire life, put half in storage, half in my car, and drove 403 miles to move to a new state and temporarily back into a college dorm for 6 weeks. I began a graduate school/residency program in a different career field than what I spent the last 2 years and 9 months slaving away in. I filled out a new FAFSA. I started sitting in on classes. I started a whole new daily language of “differentiations,” “teacher moves,” “check sheets,” and “Do Nows.”This was all in just the last week, give or take a couple days.
Going back a bit…I looked in the mirror one March morning and thought, what are you doing? And within days I had applied to a teaching program. Within a month I had been rejected by said teaching program. Within the next few seconds I was balling my eyes out, and within days I was talking with a recruiter from a similar one. And it’s been… indescribable. In all the best ways that a rose is both beautiful and dangerous. I left friends and extended family behind, moved to a city I had spent a grand total of 3 hours in previously, and jumped right into orientations and graduate work. I’ve barely had 5 minutes to process how drastically my life has changed… and how brave and strong I am.
It’s all caused me to think about all the things I’ve previously stated about our society and check myself. Why is a mid-life crisis called so? Because 50 year olds would make it most of the way through their chosen career before realizing that it wasn’t what made their lives fulfilling and decided to start from scratch. We joke that we now have a quarter life crisis, because the job market and economy make it near impossible for recent grads to find “real” jobs, which makes them question their entire schooling choice. But let me ask you millennials an important question: would you rather change your life drastically now? Or would you want to wait until you thought you were content and mature and set in your ways? I don’t know about you, but I’m glad I’m going through it now. Question yourself now.
Hell, I say question yourself whenever you get the chance, but don’t wait for it. Don’t wait to wake up one morning and find out that the lifestyle you’re in because it seemed like what you were “supposed to do” isn’t what fulfills you. Use your 20s to figure that out. Use your 20s to go with your gut. It will take you in 5 different directions to get you to where you need to be, but it will get you there nonetheless.
Your quarter-life crisis is very real. And it’s the best thing that could happen to you.
