Musings on the Quarter life Crisis

You’ve probably heard of the midlife crisis. This often hits people as they see their kids off to college and experience the empty nest, causing them to reevaluate their careers and goals for the latter part of their lives.

A rather new term is the quarter life crisis, which hits young adults as reach their 20s and enter into the real world. I am about a month away from my golden birthday- 25 on the 25th of April- and suddenly I have been feeling old. A friend had mentioned the term quarter life crisis last year, so I decided to do some research this week. Here a few of the characteristics I found:
– Confronting one’s own mortality
– Insecurity concerning ability to love oneself, let alone another person
– Insecurity regarding present accomplishments
– Disappointment with one’s job
– Nostalgia for college or high school
– Loss of closeness to high school and college friends
– Financially-rooted stress

Many college students and high schoolers are not prepared for all of the responsibilities that hit them as they enter the adult world. It makes sense that this would cause some anxiety and questioning. We haven’t done much to prepare young people, protecting them and allowing them to enjoy freedoms without the responsibility. While I felt fairly prepared for life as an adult, even I have paused to look at the last 25 years of life rather critically. I think it’s good to evaluate in order to avoid growing stagnate, but we shouldn’t dwell on our “failures” as compared to other people.

My professor reminded us today of Jeremiah’s picture of clay in the hands of our Potter. He is molding and shaping us, if we allow ourselves to be pliable and soft, willing to go where He wants us. Sometimes God has to smash down the pot only to rebuild it again to be more in line with what He wants. I was struck with how this fits in with our “crises” moments. These are times when God can smash down the pot and help us seek new direction, new passion, new excitement for what He wants to do. He can show us what needs to improve in our character. No matter what stage in life we are in, we must be continually open to what God wants to teach us!