Millennial Quarter Life Crisis
Posted on June 10, 2016 by Brent Vasicek, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
This article defines a Quarter Life Crisis and challenges you to action if it describes you.
January 1999 my grandfather gave me a nice shiny quarter with the state of Delaware imprinted on it. This was the start of my US State quarter collection. Every few months Grandpa would go to the bank on the exact day the new state quarter was to be released. He would get a whole roll of quarters, sometimes two. You see, according to Grandpa, it was very important to have a roll because those had never been touched by human hands. It was also important to get a quarter with the “D” imprint (from the Denver mint) and the “P” (Pennsylvania mint) if you truly wanted a complete collection.
Grandpa became obsessed with these quarters. He wanted to be the first one to get them into the hands of his grandchildren. He was careful to deliver each quarter untouched. I really think it was some sort of game he created in his retirement to give himself purpose.
Well, one day his quest for the new state quarter left him furious. The inflections in his voice, the vein in his temple, the heat off of his skin, I thought there truly was a national Quarter Crisis. As the story of frustration unfolded, I realized we weren’t in Def Con 4. Rather, the bank was simply experiencing a delay in its shipment.
Quarter Life Crisis
Up until today, I thought this was the only quarter crisis story I would have. Apparently, there is a new millennial version called the Quarter Life Crisis. A quarter life crisis has the depressing, lonely, insecure traits of a midlife crisis, except it is happening to folks in their 20’s and 30’s.
Why is this hitting so early? SNL did a sketch several years ago called You Can Do Anything. It is a humorous because it is true. Exaggerated, but true. Check it out on youtube.
Again, why is this midlife crisis hitting so early? Some say it is the generation of too many choices. As demonstrated by the famous Jam Choice experiment, it can be psychologically overwhelming to make a decision for fear of being wrong when presented with too many choices..
Some say it is too many commitments. We all have 1440 minutes each day. When you are young, you have minutes leftover to waste. As you get older, you have to start making choices, defining priorities. You simply can’t have it all. And, again, you don’t want to choose incorrectly.
Some say it is simply this generation is having an identity crisis. In a time of buying body parts and keeping up your online image, how do you define who a person really is. The lines have become blurry. Mark Manson has an excellent article that poses some scenarios and raises some great points of where we will be in the next decade.
The Cure
The good news is, one can survive a Quarter Life Crisis by finding support and seeking guidance. Millennials can blame their feelings on society or their parents. They wouldn’t be wrong to do so. However, the truth is every generation can blame the previous generation about how they were raised. The first step out of a Quarter Life Crisis is to accept some responsibility and then ask for some direction from a trusted source. This could be a mentor, a valued family member, or the new trend of life coach. Don’t waste too much time in the Quarter Life Crisis zone. Learn from it what you can and then move on.
Mission
Your mission this week is simple. Google Quarter Life Crisis symptoms. Check yourself out. Seek help if you feel you need it. It’s only a few clicks away or a few steps away if you happen to live with the ‘rents. Parents give free advice. Use it. Before you even say, "I need help, but my parents have their own hidden agendas and I can’t afford it." I am going to call your bluff. “Excelling without excuses” should become your new motto!
Invest in yourself! If you think you can’t afford a life coach, compare the coaching cost to what you think you are worth times the number of hours you are going to spend in your funk. Let’s say you are worth $20/hr and you are in a funk only one hour a day. That’s $1200 of lost happiness a month. Money wasted on funk. Invest half that in a life coach for a several months and you will be in a better place, more productive, happier, and living closer to your potential. Yah, it’s even cheaper than a semester long class in college and worth way more! Lastly, compare the cost of a life coach to the years therapy you will need if you don’t act now. It is easiest to cross the river at its source, my friends. Cross now.
Helping you reach your potential,
Brent
