Quarter-Life Crisis

The following paragraph was written by a journalist by the name of Brenda Della Casa, who writes articles for publications such as Glamour, Cosmopolitan and Redbook and writes a great blog called Walking Barefoot. Her greatest insights have been about the uncertainty of life and love during the "quarter-life crisis." (The years between 20 and 30 - definitely a period of change and effort for everyone).

 ..."You stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now... Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't. One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward. You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe  you love someone but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you're doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person. One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap. Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it. We  are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out..."

Life experiences often bring positive change and can offer new perspectives, hence Nietzsche's words of wisdom: "what doesn't kill you will make you stronger." Navigating the minefields of life is always going to be hard, so getting through your "quarter-life crisis" is good training for the rest. I would say having confidence and self-esteem is the basic ingredient for forging through. When you're comfortable in your own skin and you don't feel out of place - even in times of struggle - you can be confident enough to  write your own ending to a chapter.