As I blew the candles out on my 20th birthday, I was thrilled to kiss my teenage-years goodbye. My time as a naive adolescent had come and gone. The painful and uncomfortable years filled with “finding yourself” and hopeless insecurity had been left in the dust as I turned yet another year older. Finally, when asked my age, the numeral that parts my lips, leaves without the teen ending: “I’m 20.”
Yes, we all want to be a little older, but no sooner after I finished basking in the joy that was my birthday, I noticed my childhood was pretty much over.
Welcome to the Quarter Life Crisis.
No, I don’t have a receding hairline. I don’t have to dye my hair to shield a few grays from peeking through. My eyesight isn’t growing incredibly weaker. I most certainly don’t have the sudden urge to purchase a cheesy cherry-red convertible to convince myself of my youth.
So what exactly is the Quarter Life Crisis?
It’s the tight-chest, hard-to-breathe moment when you realize that all those talks with mom and dad about the “real world” are only a few months away. The overwhelming and claustrophobic feeling when you know that adulthood is knocking impatiently at your door. And for me, it hit me all at once.
An overabundance of questions began to race through my mind: What will I be doing at this time next year? Where will I be living in June? Am I going straight to grad school? Should I start a plan to pay off my loans now?
But what else can one do other than worry when time keeps insistently ticking away? For all of you in the same rocky boat, the decisions we make in the near future will determine the next step we take in life. Talk about getting seasick.
Soon thereafter, the guilt of being overdramatic for possibly no reason started running through my veins. And then the ultimate question arose – Am I worried for nothing?
The answer is no. As young adults, we cannot foresee the future. No matter what your major is, fortune telling will most likely not be included in the course objectives. If there is anything that I have learned in the past few weeks it is that this time is full of preparation, uncertainty, and surprises. If we don’t take on each moment with grace and confidence in our abilities, we’ll never truly grow.
For all of you in the same situation, you aren’t alone. At least I hope I’m not the only one shaking in my boots. Just because childhood may be over, doesn’t mean our lives are. In the next few weeks I’ll be sharing my unique experience with this phase of our lives and hopefully we’ll all leave with a little more wisdom than we had before.
Hey, being a kid is great, but maybe being an adult will be better.