7 signs you’re going through a 'quarter-life' crisis

You’re in your 20s and you still don’t know what you want from life, or what life wants from you.

Sonal Arshad Siraj September 02, 2014
When you’re in your 20s and early 30s, you feel like you are stuck somewhere in the middle. You feel confused and agitated, more so because this is the time you start to analyse how you imagined your life to be and how it has actually turned out.

If you feel like this, then don’t worry; you’re going through a quarter-life crisis.

Here are some of the most common symptoms of this crisis:

1) Every day you log on to your Facebook account and you see:
“Sara got engaged to Akram”

“Bilal married Eraj”

“Mushtaq is on his honeymoon with Sukaina”

Almost all of your friends are either tying the knot or having babies. You look at them and tell yourself that you’re in such a better place than them because you’re making your career and becoming independent. And you keep saying all that… till you run out of lies to tell yourself. And it just gets all the more worse when you see an old crush or an ex-flame posting pictures of their new bride or groom.

Source: Tumblr

2) For some reason, you suddenly miss high school and maybe college. You keep looking at old pictures and feeling nostalgic. Then you tweet them to your friends, saying “Good times, best time.” Then you take out old clothes and try to see if they fit. Sighing long and dramatically, you realise you’ll never be as young, good looking or thin as you were before.

Source: Rebloggy

3) You’re in your 20s and you still don’t know what you want from life or what life wants from you. You’ve done a degree in something else, and you’re working in a field that’s completely different. Everyone still asks you why and you still don’t know how to answer that.

You keep switching jobs with the excuse of finding ‘something better’ and you call it versatility. When a child asks you if this is what you always wanted to be, you say “sure it is”, but in your heart, you feel like jamming a fork in your eye.

Source: Giphy

4) You and your old friends still love to gossip about former classmates... and basically everyone. You pass judgements about how other people should live their lives, while you yourself don’t know how to. In fact, when you meet with your old friends, you have absolutely nothing to talk about apart from gossiping or making fun of that one friend who didn’t show up that day. When you still run out of topics, you resort to discussing politics or even worse… the weather.

If you have married friends, then it’s even more awkward because you don’t want to hear about their mother-in-law’s kitchen behaviour or how many times their baby poops. And they sure don’t want to hear about how you’re getting a promotion or working on a new project. In such cases, it’s best to talk about ‘other’ people.

Source: Makemegeek.com

5) If you’re constantly gushing about jewels and designer bridal joras, then you, my friend, are unconsciously desperate to get married. You probably thought you’d be hitched by the time you’re in your mid-twenties. And since you’re not, you’re kind of losing it.

Source: Tumblr

6) You have random impulses to do something crazy. You miss the spontaneity you previously had in your life, so you make plans with your friends to go hitchhiking across Europe. You and your friends spend days chatting away about the cool things you could do to feel young. But what you really end up doing is picking them up and going to Flamingo for some chaat. Or maybe meet up for lunch at the same old place you always go.

Source: Zap2it.com

7) You’re stuck in a rut. You want to take a break, leave work and just chill at home. But you also don’t want to ruin your flow or do anything to hurt your career right now. You feel like you’re in a cage of mundanity and wonder if you’ll ever get out of it.

Source: Somegifs

All I can say in the end is its okay. You are not alone in your misery – and as we know – misery loves company; lots of it. So just hang in there, there is an entire generation going through the same cycle.
WRITTEN BY:
Sonal Arshad Siraj A student of psychology and social sciences, who likes to eat and write in that order. She tweets @Sonal_arshad (https://twitter.com/Sonal_arshad?lang=en)
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (31)

GM | 9 years ago | Reply this is me.. Good written but ending not that good .. expecting some solution ..any plz solutions..how to get over that emotional thing .
GM | 9 years ago | Reply this is me.. :( ..expecting some good solution..plz any one how to end this all ..
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