Quarter Life Crisis: Should We Just Suck It Up?

Over the past few weeks I haven’t been able to escape discussions of the infamous “Quarter Life Crisis” (QLF). It is the topic on the lips of most of my girlfriends who are at the point of graduation and have their whole lives ahead of them. What anxieties could intelligent, confident, sociable and educated young women possibly have you say?



Well, as one of them (at least I would like to think so) I would suggest that it isn’t easy trying to live up to the person you have been working to be when society’s structure has changed. We may not be living in a world where we are required to massage the egos of our husbands and wipe snot from our children’s noses (at least unless it is by choice). But we are also not living in a society where there is an entirely smooth transition between adolescence and adulthood.



Where once a middle class girl’s narrative would veer little off high school graduation - girl meets boy - boy marries girl - girl has a couple of kids, today girls’ have all the benefits of independence and choice. But this in itself has produced several issues.



Today, we are less likely to choose this narrative for our lives and can look to filling our lives with something along the lines of high school graduation - a gap year - a few years at university - girl meets many boys - girl breaks up with many boys - girl flees overseas with a broken heart - girl gets a career - girl quits her job - girl becomes a volunteer in India - girl begins a company - girl meets man - girl marries man - man looks after kids while girl manages company - girl sells company - girl gets a divorce - girl has a tree change ..... you can see what I mean.



Life today has so many options and I refuse to be the one to complain about it. But it is important to look at the choices that have to be made in order for these changes to be made. It is overwhelming and exciting and needs to be considered thoughtfully.



Older people can be really harsh about this subject. Some don’t want to address the fact that life is at least partially different (not necessarily harder) than it was 50 years ago. One comment posted on Penelope Trunk’s blog insisted that having children changes people’s perspective of what they want from their lives, particularly women.Obviously it does.



But, despite your advise, I am not going to go out and get pregnant to find some sense of self. But thanks.



As all the conversations about the Quarter Life Crisis are often very serious (which is great), as a girl with a sense of humour, I thought I would share some of the funny images I found on the web.

Enjoy!