I have. Well, not in the throes, exactly, since I like to think I'm fairly well adjusted. But I've experienced other people's quarter-life crises. And that is when mid 20 to 30 somethings (non gender specific) lose THEIR ever-loving minds to temporary insanity. Now this crisis tends to happen either right before or right after some major change in the young life of our hero. Or heroine as the case may be.
Examples: College graduation. Job interviews (multiple after not finding said dream job, upon college graduation). Mile stone birthdays 22. 25. 30. Realization of a dream deferred. Engagements and Weddings and Babies (oh my!)
See, our hero/ine finds themselves in one of these situations and that horrid "wtf am I doing with my life" question comes up. Whether it be upon graduation, and shit now mom and dad have absolutely no reason to continue paying your bills. Or after a summer of searching and still no bites in this awful job market- so you move home to "save money." Or mayhaps everything was fine, but now 25 is around the corner and damn it all, if you haven't made any progress on that Things I Want To Do Before I Die list. "Yeah, remember when I wanted to..." starts becoming a problem and our hero/ine recalls that before things got crazy, and the mundane of real life set in, they wanted to be an actress...not a waitress. And finally (and I think the most compelling of all situations) the engagements and weddings and babies (oh my!) of the friends. As was so apparent in my own Facebook timeline, 2011 was clearly the year to "settle down". My high school class has by now graduated from whatever Cincinnati/Ohio based college they went to. They maybe even have a job. Next step? Marriage. (Gross, I know. But who am I, commitment-phobe that I am, to judge?) These Facebook status updates, and the ultra-sound photo mobile uploads, and the wedding albums are by far the most driving of events to spark the quarter-life crisis. The unsuspecting 20something will happen upon a photo, or they'll be blindsided by a matrimonial newsfeed detailing what seems like everyone elses wedded bliss. And all that sanity just goes right out the fifth-floor-walk-up window. I want to be married. I want to have babies. I want to settle down. Temporary insanity. I'm telling you.
Mind you, I think everyone under the age of thirty who isn't selfishly thinking only about what they want is just stir crazy. And that is my most humble and unbiased opinion.
the rest is still UNwritten...
See, our hero/ine finds themselves in one of these situations and that horrid "wtf am I doing with my life" question comes up. Whether it be upon graduation, and shit now mom and dad have absolutely no reason to continue paying your bills. Or after a summer of searching and still no bites in this awful job market- so you move home to "save money." Or mayhaps everything was fine, but now 25 is around the corner and damn it all, if you haven't made any progress on that Things I Want To Do Before I Die list. "Yeah, remember when I wanted to..." starts becoming a problem and our hero/ine recalls that before things got crazy, and the mundane of real life set in, they wanted to be an actress...not a waitress. And finally (and I think the most compelling of all situations) the engagements and weddings and babies (oh my!) of the friends. As was so apparent in my own Facebook timeline, 2011 was clearly the year to "settle down". My high school class has by now graduated from whatever Cincinnati/Ohio based college they went to. They maybe even have a job. Next step? Marriage. (Gross, I know. But who am I, commitment-phobe that I am, to judge?) These Facebook status updates, and the ultra-sound photo mobile uploads, and the wedding albums are by far the most driving of events to spark the quarter-life crisis. The unsuspecting 20something will happen upon a photo, or they'll be blindsided by a matrimonial newsfeed detailing what seems like everyone elses wedded bliss. And all that sanity just goes right out the fifth-floor-walk-up window. I want to be married. I want to have babies. I want to settle down. Temporary insanity. I'm telling you.
Mind you, I think everyone under the age of thirty who isn't selfishly thinking only about what they want is just stir crazy. And that is my most humble and unbiased opinion.
the rest is still UNwritten...
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