Quarter-Life Crisis

From one of those many-times forwarded emails...

"Quarter-life Crisis."

They call it the "Quarter-life Crisis." It is when youstop going along with the crowd and start realizingthat there are many things about yourself that youdidn't know and may not like. You start feelinginsecure and wonder where you will be in a year ortwo, but then get scared because you barely knowwhere you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that,maybe, those friends that you thought you were soclose to aren't exactly the greatest people youhave ever met, and the people you have lost touchwith are some of the most important ones. Whatyou don't recognize is that they are realizing thattoo, and aren't really cold, catty, mean orinsincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You look at your job ... and it is not even close towhat you thought you would be doing, or maybeyou are looking for a job! and realizing that you aregoing to have to start at the bottom and thatscares you.

Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see whatothers are doing and find yourself judging morethan usual because suddenly you realize that youhave certain boundaries in your life and areconstantly adding things to your list of what isacceptable and what isn't? One minute, you areinsecure and then the next, secure. You laugh andcry with the greatest force of your life. You feelalone and scared and confused. Suddenly,change is the enemy and you try and cling on tothe past with dear life, but soon realize that thepast is drifting further and further away, and thereis nothing to do but stay where you are or moveforward.

You get your heart broken and wonder howsomeone you loved could do such damage to you.Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meetanyone decent enough that you want to get toknow better. Or maybe you love someone but lovesomeone else too and cannot figure out why youare doing this because you know that you aren't abad person.

One night stands and random hook ups start tolook cheap. Getting wasted and acting like anidiot starts to look pathetic.

You go through the same emotions and questionsover and over, and talk with your friends about thesame topics because you cannot seem to make adecision. You worry about loans, money, the futureand making a life for yourself... and while winningthe race would be great, right now you'd just like tobe a contender!

What you may not realize is that everyone readingthis relates to it. We are in our best of times andour worst of times, trying as hard as we can tofigure this whole thing out.