Everyone knows about mid-life crises–when you hit mid-life and suddenly yearn for the adventures of your youth. Some people buy sports cars or go on big vacations or try to get back into the party scene.
But what about quarter-life crises?
A couple years ago when I was on my two-week trip around Eastern Europe, a girl in my travel group, who was 19 at the time, told us that she had been at university but had a quarter-life crisis, panicked, dropped out and was now traveling until she figured out the rest. I found it hard to believe her. How does someone at 19 panic that badly? That’s technically not even “quarter-life.” Sure, at 19, I wasn’t close to having my life figured out, but I thought having that kind of reaction was over the top. We’re too young for quarter-life crises.
I didn’t believe that quarter-life crises existed…until I had one of my own.