In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few decades (or, you know, in your Netflix queue), here’s a newsflash for you: life is hard. As college students, we juggle classes, clubs, jobs, internships, social lives and the growing dread that comes with actually having to start making life decisions that affect more than just how hungover we are the next day. It’s pretty easy to distract yourself from it at first, but the closer you get to graduation, the more you realize that you actually probably have no idea what you’re doing with your life.
As a chronic sufferer of the Quarter Life Crisis, I know the signs. The indecision, the paralyzing self-doubt, the constant FML moments that make you feel like you’re living in a bad Lifetime movie. Here are just a few signs that you may be in the midst of a Quarter Life Crisis as well.
1. You can’t stop questioning most of your life decisions. Among the questions that keep you up at night are probably these gems: Do I really want a career related to the major that I spend hours complaining about to my roommates? Do I really want to waste precious time on relationships that may or may not last, or should I just succumb to random hook-ups, cats and spinsterdom? Is stripping to afford my college tuition really as bad as my parents make it sound? Hey, even if you’re rolling up to the Bursar’s Office with a wad of ones, at least you’re paying the bills.
2. You get a little caught up in the past sometimes. You’ve been reading Buzzfeed articles about the 456 Best Things About The 90’s, even though you only vaguely remember half of them. You can’t decide if you want to find a group of friends to be Destiny’s Child for Halloween or if you should go solo as Justin Timberlake’s ramen hair. You suddenly feel the need to reconnect with Stacy from your bio class freshman year of high school. Maybe if you get all the good high school gossip, you won’t feel so bad about your life anymore.
3. You realize you don’t keep up with your social life as well as you used to. Your friends haven’t seen you in weeks. The only proof of your existence is the constant Snapchat stories of your dogs. You don’t really feel the need to go out anymore, and you’ve spent the past five weekends marathoning Gilmore Girls on Netflix. At least Rory and Lorelai give better life advice than your academic advisor.
4. You still somehow find time to talk to your parents on a weekly basis. Your parents now know to constantly have their cell phone on in case you call with your next life crisis. They’ve heard about every change in career path that you’ve considered and have probably told you how to cook chicken about three times this month. Sometimes you just need to be reassured for the 567th time that you’re not a complete screw-up, and they’re the only ones willing to put up with your pity parties long enough to give it to you.
4. You’ve thought about quitting school at least three times each week since the semester started. College degrees are overrated, anyway. At this point, anything would be better than this Statistics midterm. Who said stripping is only good for paying tuition?