The Quarter Life Crisis

Here you are, in your mid-20s - the best time of your life, at least that's what everyone says. Your 'I am independent' claim now has the legal stamp of economics; the college campus lingers in nostalgia; 'work hard, party harder' is the new mantra. But the euphoria is evaporating. The adrenaline rush leaves a hangover that seems impossible to shake off. Disillusionment looms large with a million-dollar question: What next? Welcome. You have just been hit by the quarter-life crisis. The transition from college to the real world sets the stage for the quarter-life crisis, hitting those in their early and mid-20s. Work, independence, new responsibilities, relationships hankering for "long-term commitment" and "meaningful" layers, all add to an anxiety not known until now. The phrase ‘quarter-life crisis’ gained currency in the West in 2001, when two twenty-somethings made a fortune writing on their peer’s crises in "Quarter life Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in your Twenties". This has become an unrecognized epidemic, sweeping an entire generation reared on an array of choices and rising expectations.

Oh yea! Everybody goes through this phase; some face this crisis for long and some for short phases. I recently read a post which goes like this, "At 27, Atul has the life dreams are made of: an MBA from a top management institute, out-of-turn raises every few months, whirlwind world tours on work and a stunner for his arm candy at corporate dos. Three job switches in the last nine months have landed this finance whiz in a top managerial position. But lately, he has been fighting gnawing self-doubts. “I make big bucks, but have no time to spend them. I don’t feel driven to achieve anything anymore… Should I have chosen another profession?” says the alpha achiever, who is also beginning to question his four-year-old relationship." Unfortunately the messages like these are increasing, its just that we don't always observe these in the bracket of quarter life crisis.

The statistics are startling. At any point of time, around one third of the population in the age group 18 - 28 suffer from this crisis. And though I could not get any statistics relevant to India, I definitely think that this number is much large, at least close to 60%. As part of international student exchange program, I am currently studying at a B School in France. When I talk to students here who are studying economics and come to B school, who leave engineering and come to B school; I could not stop myself from asking "whats the plan?", "what next?", may be owing to our system which mostly works on plans. I am amazed to find that no body here has a plan as such. They are studying here because they feel its good. The people here are not looking for easy money or good jobs and they are not afraid to live on little money and temporary jobs. People here are not scared of the future which sometimes pity the systems back home. Of course people here enjoy many privileges like small population, no or very less competition etc.; and in contrast the huge and ever increasing population in India, meagerly growing industrial opportunities, demanding education sector etc. might all become the reasons.

You are a software engineer, just out of college, living in a nice cool apartment with a peaceful white collar job. There is QLC here too, to switch jobs, not getting the deserved credit, give CAT or GMAT etc. In students, QLC is common in students of the best of B schools to students of a normal engineering college in a remote place. It is unfortunate that there is QLC in students as young as 7 - 8th standard which is being exploited by IIT coaching centres and intermediate colleges. QLC about relationships is more common too; some express it, some dont, but it is there.

“This crisis is a product of our times. Young people want to jump from one ladder to another, exhausting their goals very early on. They then begin to question everything about their lives.”, says Dr Amit Sen, a psychiatrist who sees children and young adults. The 20s are bringing with them a “nervous self-awareness,” says a 30-year-old lecturer at a leading DU college. “Students now indulge in a lot of self-questioning, which isn’t philosophical like -- ‘What’s my purpose in life’ — but, ‘Oh god, are my friends going to do better in life than me?’” Psychologist NK Chadha, head of DU’s department of adult, continuing education and extension, says, “Students choose careers depending on what pays more, and end up paying with their peace of mind.”

So my dear friends, you are not alone. Everyone around you is also going through the same confusion, anxiety and internal suffering. After all, there is no rule that there should be an answer to every "why"...

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