Quarter Life Crises and The Driven Youth

So you've finally finished graduated from University, all you're hormones by now are probably in check, you're either just starting your career or you're still looking... and what happens the Quarter Life Crisis (QLC if you're one of the cool kids but come on the cool kids aren't feeling like this right?) hits!

I read this Guardian blog recently about QLC (is it a symptom of QLC that I think the acronym looks like a dated business management strategy like TQM? I probably should have kept that off screen right?) which said:

"[QLC] is often characterised by anxiety, self-doubt and a sense of inferiority as individuals"

...really? Because I have felt like that from age 10 (that's a joke for any prospective employers reading this by the way... I am infact a self-confident go-getter with a thirst for knowledge and laugh in the face of pressure or something like that).

Video on QLC from Current TV check out some of the other videos they have on the subject here

It's actually quite easy to dismiss Quarter Life Crises as a bit of a joke (as I myself seem to have already tried to do in this post) but is a genuine problem and is causing myself and many of my contempories distress. It is certainly more severe than just post teenage angst, as many seem to try to dismiss it as.

It's interesting to take see the different forms the crisis takes for different people and any list of symptoms I find reads like a checklist for a mental illness...
Imposter Syndrome? check.
Identity Crisis? check.
Desire to have children? erm... give me a few years on that one.
"If you meet 5 or more of these criteria please call..."

A lot of these things I would liken to the experience of institutionalisation and an obvious outcome from a culture of ambitious and driven youth, we have been studying for 18+ years and for a lot of people they were bound by the expectation that everything should happen as it did (even if you did choose your own course etc. you were still expected to go to uni, get a degree etc. etc. etc.). Now we're suddenly released into a world where we really need to think about what we want for ourselves which of course is going to cause an identity crisis and feelings of inadequacy and will possibly make you feel like you need to take control of your life, for instance by having children.

I think what we really need to know is that others feel like this, we're not alone on this one, and it's just a matter of coming to terms with the milieu in which we now find ourselves.

Sorry I didn't have a pic to put up so here's me "hanging in there"

Oh and don't do what I did and buy a BMX in order to make you feel younger it only helps to make you feel older and ever so slightly stupid.