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It is happening. I am getting old. I am actually feeling old. For so long, I was the youngest person in the office, the youngest person at association meetings, the youngest mother, the youngest person in the adult ballet class I attend, but not anymore. Now I’m old (in some case the oldest).
The aging part doesn’t bother me, but here’s the thing – now I don’t have any excuses for feeling “green” in my professional life. There were times in my career when thought, “I’m not an expert at this, but that is ok because I have only been out of school a few years. I have time to learn.” Well, now everyday on Twitter I hear about PR firm vice presidents who graduated two, three years after me. Not just one VP, but several. And not at little firms in some small town, but New York and DC. Did I go wrong somewhere? Have I not accomplished what I should in the six years I have been out of college? (Really?! It has already been six years?!)
I’m really happy at my current job and feel that I have a pretty solid resume, but I’m not a VP at a NY PR firm who gets clients on Good Morning America and talks to the New York Times everyday. If I want to have a career like that, have I already missed the boat? I think that is what is bugging me – not that I am not a VP, but maybe it is too late for me to ever have a job like that. Maybe some doors have started to close.
When I was in school, fresh out of school and even in the past several years, I always thought that the world was still my oyster. But now I am coming to realize that some doors really are closing, or maybe just getting harder to open.
Any other 20-somethings going through this? What happens when we aren’t the young professionals anymore? What will our identity be? Will we just become a part of the masses, or do we continue to explore the world through our Gen-Y bubble?
So THIS is what it feels like to have a quarter-life crisis 
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Comments
02.08.10
This is an interesting view of the Quarter Life Crisis- while mine has been struggling to grow up while still wanting to be young, you have realized that you are at another stage of your life and you wonder what is next.
Great post thanks for sharing!
02.08.10
Niki,
Don't panic. Every member of every generation goes through this "quarter-life crisis"!
Traditional astrology (not the horoscope drivel in the newspaper) has a language to talk about this time period as the part of one's natural life cycle - it is called the Saturn return. Saturn takes approximately 29 years to make a trip around the sun. And this "crisis" typically occurs at about the 29th birthday although sometimes you'll feel the questions you are talking about some months before that. (If you've graduated from college six years ago that would make you approximately 28 or so.)
It is a time of reflection to recognize what doors are closing and what opportunities are ahead, and then to begin to put structures and foundations in place to move in the direction of those opportunities. And yes, there will be people younger than you around you now! Most importantly, it is about being the author of your own life and not following what others say you "should do" - and really trying to avoid the comparisons of where others are. In short, "where do you want your life to go?" is the focus.
Whether or not you use the astrological language, everyone goes through this period of time. And from your post it sounds like you are asking all the right questions.
And I've been through two Saturn returns!
DrJohn
PS - If you haven't checked it out, look at http://untemplater.com. It may help.
02.08.10
Ha! I know exactly how you feel. Every time I get my college alumni magazine in the mail, I start panicking because people my age or younger are already at the top of their fields.
But I then remind myself that I'm making my own way, and doing a darn good job of it, at my own pace, all while (mostly) maintaining a healthy work/life balance. What more could I ask for?
But yes, I sometimes still feel in the grips of my quarterlife crisis...and I'll be 30 in about half a year.
02.08.10
Thanks for the support! I think the most comforting thing is knowing that I am not the only person who is feeling/has felt this way. Glad you liked the post :)
02.12.10
Still not sure what a quarter-life crisis looks like. I never went through one (or at least one that looks like what you described), and many of my friends died before having one.
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