The Quarter Life Crisis

Whilst I am by no means an optician, it has recently occurred to me that short-sightedness is hardly the most pressing optometry issue for the ageing generation. The need for glasses is paired with a rose-tinted glaze that can only be diagnosed as: nostalgia. Symptoms predominantly including a patronising compulsion to inform every gen-Z’er in (short) sight that your 20s are the best years of your life. This constant pressure to make the decade live up to expectations mixed with a bubbling impatience to make something of yourself often leads to uncertainty, pressure and jumbled sense of identity that is rarely talked about in society. As a result, it has become increasingly harder to enjoy the lack of responsibility and disposable income that can make this time so uniquely freeing and instead often catalyses what my friends and I have coined, ‘The Quarter-Life Crisis’.

The blanket of University is swept out from beneath your feet and as the high from grad-balls, festivals and finished dissertations starts to fade and the last drop of celebratory prosecco wears off, you’re slapped with what feels like the worst comedown of all- adulthood.

In trying to counter this comedown I followed the footsteps of many before me and had the privilege of going travelling. This was the most cherished experience and adventure of my life so far, yet, it somewhat disappointingly lead me no closer to the discovery of my life’s true calling. This niggling self-doubt was brutally confirmed during a Christmas party quiz, in which question five asked ‘Did Alice find herself travelling?’

To which the answer was a unified 'no'. Comforting? Hardly. But honest? Entirely.

During the ‘Mid-Life Crisis’ you buy a Porsche or marry a trophy wife, but for the twenty-two-year-old the solution seems a little more toxic. A reckless party-girl mentality is often adopted, passing the time in a vodka-induced haze, hoping that by the time you’ve slept off your hangover the pieces might have put themselves together.

Without sounding cliché, I look to the effects of social media on Gen Z’s and Millenials for someone to blame. Whilst instagram can be an incredible platform for inspiring and educational content, it more often than not hyperbolises virulent feelings of inadequacy. How can you be certain of yourself when you are affronted by comparison to others every time you unlock your phone? How can you be happy with your masters when Jen has a 30K grad-scheme ? Or, when Mikey is spending sun-soaked days on the white sand beaches of Thailand? Nowadays, the grass is always even greener thanks to filters on Instagram, making it easy to forget to check in with reality and be proud of our own accomplishments.

So I think it’s time we dress the pressing need to ‘find yourself’. We need to ask, what does that really mean? And what will I achieve having found it? It is time to take some of the pressure off. Yes your twenties should be a hilarious exhilarating whirlwind shaping your future, but they will also most-likely be shrouded in uncertainty. But this is only a problem if we try to disguise it.

Try not to get caught up in the passive-aggressive who’s-life-is-better competitions of social media and take your time figuring out who you are and who you want to be. Make mistakes and take chances. Some people find their passion at eighteen, other at eighty. And that is completely fine. These are the little things I often repeat when I find myself being particularly hard on myself. Trust the process, cherish your friends and the memories you’re making; save that life-crisis for when you hit forty.