Thought of the Day

I'm sure you've heard it before: "Quarter Life Crisis". It seems to have become more and more common, as the phrase "Mid-life Crisis" has seemingly found a reprieve from social discussions.

While both are real problems that can cripple the affected, I find myself much less sympathetic to the QLC (as Wikipedia calls it). Why?

"Snap out of it!"

You can say that to the twenty-something regretting their college major, hating their mundane desk-monkey status and boo-hooing their last break-up ("Really, this time, this was the one!"). In fact, i often do. But see, I'd would not and could not say it to the balding 50 year-old with a dead-end job, an ungrateful child and a wife whose vocabulary has whittled down to the essentials for nagging criticism. He wants a fire-red two-seater convertible? Go for it, because frankly, he should be in crisis, his life sucks and he's stuck.

In contrast, sufferers of QLC have their whole lives ahead of them. Regardless of how badly things are going, they have an invaluable luxury in their hands: Time. And with that, Hope.

QLC's anxieties & frustrations should be a catalyst for change, and in that sense: Empowering. You're 27. You work for an imbecile who takes credit for your reports? Switch jobs. You feel bored in your field? Go back to school. You're still fixated on your last "love"? Stop moping and get on with it while you still have your looks. No matter how critical you are while taking inventory of what you have and don't have, here are the facts: You don't have a mortgage. You don't have a family to support. You do have your health. So, snap out of it!

Alright, now i'm off to poison myself with malt beverages while bemoaning my poor choice of university, my sexist pig of a boss, and the hopelessness of true love in Manhattan.