Mid-twenties crisis: a new phenomenon?

[Edgar]

When you're a teenager, you have ambitious dreams you want to achieve, and when you graduate from high school, reality shows its ugly face.

I would say college, but otherwise yes.

 

[cascadeco]

When you're a teenager, you have ambitious dreams you want to achieve, and when you graduate from high school, reality shows its ugly face.

Yeah, after graduating from college, and working for a few yrs, I went through about a 2-year Funk.

Having to look Reality in the face and come to terms with it, and your place in it, and *whether* there's a place for you in it, and how to make that come about....IN's probably get hit the hardest on this, and may have the hardest time coping with it, but everyone may experience it to some degree.

I also anticipate it'll pop itself up several more times over my lifetime. ;-) But I don't think it'll be as intense/all-consuming.

 

[FDG]

Well maybe we should have our life expetancy cut, because I can't understand why people would want to waste time with a "crisis" with so many things to see and do in such a short life.

 

[JivinJeffJones]

Well maybe we should have our life expetancy cut, because I can't understand why people would want to waste time with a "crisis" with so many things to see and do in such a short life.

Too many.

 

[Amargith]

I once talked to a psychologist I met who said that everyone goes through an identity crisis around 26-27 and around 27-28 you finally find who you truly are, and are 'emotionally mature' and the person you will likely be for the rest of your life...

 

[Edgar]

I once talked to a psychologist I met who said that everyone goes through an identity crisis around 26-27 and around 27-28 you finally find who you truly are, and are 'emotionally mature' and the person you will likely be for the rest of your life...

Just out of curiosity - did you talk to that psychologist when you were 26-27 years old?

 

[Amargith]

Just out of curiosity - did you talk to that psychologist when you were 26-27 years old?

It was...a year ago? So yeah, and no we were not discussing my life,..it came up when she was describing the cycles that people go through in life as she was advising someone else who was having a crisis

 

[garbage]

I deliberately restructured my life and re-prioritized everything once I graduated with my masters, allowing my career to take a backseat to, well, everything else. I got exposed to a lot of new facets of my own personality and eventually became a pretty well-balanced person, but not after some major soul-searching.

 

[LucrativeSid]

A crisis is a harsh and effective way of making shit turn into gold. Note: All materials, with the exception of gold, will turn into shit eventually, so for some people, it just takes longer for it to happen.

Don't let your life suck!

 

[aguanile]

I once talked to a psychologist I met who said that everyone goes through an identity crisis around 26-27 and around 27-28 you finally find who you truly are, and are 'emotionally mature' and the person you will likely be for the rest of your life...

I can agree that this is true for my life. ANd I am currently in the knowing who I am stage. It's great.

 

[proteanmix]

Yeah, after graduating from college, and working for a few yrs, I went through about a 2-year Funk.

Having to look Reality in the face and come to terms with it, and your place in it, and *whether* there's a place for you in it, and how to make that come about....IN's probably get hit the hardest on this, and may have the hardest time coping with it, but everyone may experience it to some degree.

I also anticipate it'll pop itself up several more times over my lifetime. ;-) But I don't think it'll be as intense/all-consuming.

Yes there is definitely a such thing as the real world. I look at my job and I'm really beginning to understand the jostling involved and I often wonder do I want to do this possibly for the rest of my life? I've seen the effects of this on the older people in my life and it's not something I look forward to.

Especially the part about whether there is a place for you. This period of my life is a crossroads and I feel how heavy it is. Decisions I make now affect my future, hell decisions I made five years ago are affecting me now and I regret some of those decisions so for me there is the strong fear of making the wrong choice. I don't think people like to come to terms with the fact that our lives are not a series of unconnected events. I can look back to when I was 18 and alternately kick myself in the butt and congratulate myself for decisions I made (more kicking in the butt). But such is life, you live and your learn.

Good things that are happening now is I am truly using this period to learn about myself. What I out of my life, my career, my relationships, my expectations of myself and others. I feel like there's been an explosion of self-knowledge in the last few years and since I don't have anyone majorly dependent on my I can be as navel-gazely about it as I want.

 

[Ivy]

I've been told it's because of Saturn cycles, since Saturn goes around the sun once every 28 years, we often come into our own at around the age of 28. The years leading up to 28 are often chaotic and confusing, but things tend to align in our late 20s.

Mind you I think that's total bull, but it's what some people seriously think.

 

[aguanile]

Also the Quarterlife Crisis online forum
QLC Message Boards - Powered by vBulletin
I have found to be really helpful. Even just to know that other people are going through the same thing as you.

 

[whimsical]

im having midlife crises and im not even 20 yet come on now

 

[laintpe]

I started worrying about aging when I was 8, then in the beginning of high school I decided everything was pointless, including worrying about dying. 15 was the last time I was consistently optimistic. I used to try to recapture that, but I can't bring myself to find any value in what I thought was important then.

 

[miked277]

i have a mini-quarter-life-crisis around 24-26. then i figured everything out and now i am much happier.

so, uh... just figure stuff out

 

[Lightyear]

I am 27 and right in my midtwenties-midlife crisis. It's good to know that I am not the only one.

 

["?"]

Just about everyone I know in their mid-to-late twenties is going through an identity crisis of some kind at the moment, and I've been wondering what this is about. I don't see much evidence of it in earlier generations, although the mid-life crises of the boomers were well-publicized. I've repeatedly heard it said that people are having their crises much younger now. Any thoughts?

It happened in the earlier generations. Mine was at 29, I think my father says his was at 25. I know my mother went through one for years, during her early 30's. No difference.

 

[Giggly]

+1

It's the year 2007 and I'm a 25 year old engineer. I've been dating for three years (my third serious relationship), am on my 4th job since graduation, don't have a retirement plan or company benefits (contract work), and really don't even know if engineering is my life plan or not. Frankly, I anticipate some degree of societal collapse by the time I reach retirement (if such a thing is even still possible - stock market crash, economic depression, World War III... who knows).

It's the year 1957 and I'm a 25 year old engineer. I've been married to my high school sweetheart for three years now and have been working at the same company since graduating college. I have a generous benefits package and plan to stay with the same company until my nice fat pension kicks in around age 55 and I can enjoy a comfortable retirement puttering around in my shed and spending time with the grandchildren.

Interesting.

 

[Tiltyred]

Saturn Return: What's the Saturn Return?
Indigo Children: Indigo Generations