Understanding Quarter Life Crisis, Its Causes and Ways to Overcome It

Quarter life crisis is a term that is often used nowadays, although it is undeniable that not many people are fully aware of it. So what exactly is the meaning of a quarter life crisis? What are the signs and how to deal with this condition?

This quarter century crisis experienced by someone in the age period 18-30 years. Where at that age a person feels directionless, worried, confused and now called living in confusion and uncertainty. Related to life in the future, in general these concerns include problems in relationships, love, career to the social life of a person.

Understanding Quarter Life Crisis

Quarter life crisis is a term that has been widely discussed in journals and other scientific works. However, this term is not the same as midlife crisis, where the difference lies in the age range. If the quarter life crisis is experienced in their 20s to 30s, while the midlife crisis occurs in people in their 40s to 60s.

Allison Black in his book entitled Halfway Between Somewhere and Nothing explains that a quarter life crisis is an emotional crisis that can be characterized by feelings of helplessness, isolation, doubts about one’s own abilities and fear of failure. In short, it can be referred to as fear and anxiety about life in the future.

The future is full of mysteries, life is about career, social relationships and life partners are obtained without knowing beforehand. At that age, many people accept a lot of demands which then force emerges and the formation of a new mindset at the stage of adolescent to adult transition. In addition to demands from outside, encouragement from within oneself makes a person’s condition unstable.

This condition can also be interpreted as an unstable person’s condition, as a result of which pressures and demands arise. As well as feelings of fear of life in the future, the explanation of the meaning of this term has actually shown implicitly regarding the cause of the emergence of this condition.

Causes of the Quarter Life Crisis

Excessive Fear

Known as FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), fear accompanied by anxiety and worry is an unnatural feeling experienced by a person, but when the feeling becomes big because it makes a person difficult to think clearly. It has various forms, such as being afraid because you have just started a romantic relationship, being afraid or worried about not being able to work to being anxious if you make a mistake.

Have No Clear Goals

Not having a clear goal, this is related to excessive fear because the feeling will arise if a person does not have a clear goal. For some people, setting long-term life goals can be difficult, but at least there are small things or goals, so as not to get stuck in a quarter life crisis.

Hard to Make a Decision

In life, of course, one has to make decisions, but because they are always faced with choices or small things. Someone will be afraid to make a decision and it will lead to a quarter life crisis. Learning to make decisions wisely is not easy, dare to take decisions and take risks not only dwelling on decision making.

Signs of a Quarter Life Crisis

Start Questioning Life’s Purpose

There are so many questions that pop up in your head, including the existence and purpose of life in the world. These questions often do not find the answer to the frustration of a person.

Feeling Unhappy

Even though you have done many things and achieved something you want, you are still not happy. This condition can be caused by various things, ranging from losing your real life purpose and being too ambitious without being accompanied by a commensurate effort.

Social Media Is Depressing

Social media more often makes a person feel restless and depressed, even when news of the success of one of his friends that should be good news makes him anxious for no reason and feels inferior, feeling left behind compared to his peers. Connecting the success of others as a measure of one’s own success is something that the generations going through this phase have to straighten out.

Social media is the best display in any person’s life. They present a part of themselves in order to achieve goals and social status. There is no problem as long as we don’t have to compare ourselves to others. We never know what other people have been through, and neither do we. Being yourself is the best.

How to Get Through the Quarter Life Crisis

Know Yourself

You can start by knowing what you really want to do, what the strengths and weaknesses are in yourself. This can be used as evaluation material as well as motivation in living life, finding true identity.

Don’t Compare Yourself

Not comparing yourself with other people, one of which is after seeing the uploads of friends on social media who have achieved success and show off the things they are doing. Do not feel that other people’s lives are always easier than your own.

Assume Normal Phase

Understanding the meaning of a quarter life crisis is normal because there are many people out there who have been or are in a similar phase. Think of it as a phase of life that everyone will experience.

This is a brief explanation of what a quarter life crisis is, its causes, signs and how to deal with it. Every human being must have experienced this phase and this is very human. However, this can be circumvented by various supporting factors. One of them is the best education for a bright future.

One of Sampoerna University’s missions is to aspire and foster future leaders who have strong moral character and international competitive skills so as to enable our graduates to actively participate in building a more prosperous, fair, respected, and globally competitive Indonesia. .

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Reference
Wikipedia