Quarter-life crisis is a low point in life when people are confused regarding their identity, purpose in life, as well as the transition they are going through. It usually occurs for people in their mid-twenties following up to the early thirties. The twenties is the time of progression from adolescence to adulthood. During this phase, young adults are catapulted into the ‘real world’ where they have to deal with the world at large and adapt to the changes in their individual lives. Such unpredictable transitions can trigger a wide variety of symptoms in young adults due to stress.
Here are major signs you are going through a quarter life crisis:
1. You feel depressed.
Depression bogs people down and makes people insecure regarding where they stand in life. They start to question their own decisions and the path they are taking which enforces a quarter life crisis.
2. You’re frustrated.
The problem is not just the frustration alone. It usually leads to anger and harms the person and their relationships. Moreover, frustration pushes a person into many directions, and that can cause a person to lose focus. Without solid goals and ambitions, a person can fall into depression.
3. You feel that you’re trapped in a situation with no options.
During 20’s, people who live with their families have to accept and follow the traditional values that could be in contrast to their own personal values. Unless they can navigate their way around it and simultaneously maintain their independence, it’s a win-win situation for both parties. But if not, the person has to follow values and traditions unwillingly while feeling conflicted inside.
4. You’re not feeling motivated to achieve anything.
One of the most easily identifiable points regarding quarter life crisis is losing motivation and ambition. You feel as if you are not able to formulate a clear goal in life and going with the path of least resistance.
5. You feel detached.
You start losing interest in the work you loved, or even the things you loved like sports or gaming or watching drama on TV. The same things that you used to enjoy don’t give you the satisfaction or relief that it used to give and you yearn for something that will make you feel whole.
6. You’re unable to find meaning in professional life.
You start thinking that the structure of society is not built upon for you to succeed instantly even if you can but rather to have you moving up the social ladder at a slow pace, and there is a power game everywhere. So, in a way, work is just designed to make you busy rather than giving you a purpose. If you have identified this already, it could have made you think that you are working for someone else or an organization doesn’t align with your purpose in life.
7. You are dissatisfied or bored altogether with life.
You engross yourself in activities or hobbies that merely fit in your life to pass the time. You are developing escapist tendencies to escape the physical world. You are not hesitant in becoming a couch potato.
8. You feel like something is not fitting well in your life.
You feel as if you are trapped and need an escape. You think that matters like the relationship or work or study or anything does not mean anything for you, and you start feeling the hollow-self inside you. So, you stop caring about things.
9. You feel you are losing confidence about having control of your life.
You’ve reached a point where you just want to give up control and wing it; take life as a roller coaster ride and letting it take wherever it takes you. You don’t feel like you can handle the stress anymore either.
10. You feel like life up until now has been lived on autopilot mode.
You feel as if you are living, but you don’t feel alive. It seems as though the joy or the spice in being alive is missing altogether. You want to break the monotony of everyday life to go out and do something crazy, but you feel as if you’re unable to.
If you are feeling all of these, then there are high chances that you are going through a quarter life crisis. There is no need to be ashamed about it and just know that everyone else goes through it at least once in their life, unless they are lucky.