While everyone is familiar with the mid-life crisis, there's a really under-exposed stage in everyone's life that nobody seems to talk about as much – and that would be the quarter-life crisis. The quarter-life crisis is notable for its rapid onset in the latter years of college. Common symptoms include worrying about life after graduation, decisions to be made once entering "the real world" and making the most of the last "best years of your life." But you don't need to take my word for it. Here are the defining characteristics of the quarter-life crisis, as told by Michael Scott.
1.
Here's the crux of it – the time is coming for us to use our education to get real jobs and be a part of the real world. And yet, as graduation creeps up closer and closer, a lot of us can't help but feel stressed out about the upcoming future. What will the job market be like? What are we going to end up doing for the rest of our lives? It's a scary thought.
2.
This is the part where everything feels like a sign. Everything anyone says makes you question the track you're on. Every dream you have, every random thought that passes your mind seems like a hint that you may be on the wrong path; the last semesters of college consist of constant worrying and second-guessing about what you've done so far, and everything in the universe seems like a sign leading you to different directions.
3.
What happens when you begin to question your way to graduation, you begin a frantic scramble to decide what your personal vision statement is. What are you going to do after college? What are your true ambitions? Unfortunately, it's impossible to come up with one definite answer.
4.
I'm sure this doesn't apply to everyone, especially if you've known what you want to do with your life since you were five. But for the rest of us, getting tied down into one major can get overbearing. And then all of a sudden, you realize that there are so many options out there to explore, too many to even really make an accurate list out of.
5.
Ok, maybe not YouTube, but SOMEONE needs to appreciate all you're doing, right? A part of the quarter-life crisis is frustration – maybe you don't get an interview for a job that you know you're more than qualified for. Maybe you don't get the attention you wanted from that one vendor at the job fair. But you know you're working your butt off, and it stinks that not everyone is able to see it – of course, this wouldn't happen if Michael Scott were in charge.
6.
It's inevitable – eventually nothing makes sense. You don't know why you've been so worried about graduating. You don't know why you're second guessing every decision you've ever made. You just don't understand anything.
7.
And then, all the worrying just gets to you. Maybe you don't deal with stress the same way Michael does – but you probably should.
8.
Finally, you just have to accept that the end of the educational chapter in our lives is just the very beginning of a much bigger and more exciting one. If we've made it this far, there's no reason to think we won't be able to take on the world later on. And with a little bit of positivity, the quarter-life crisis doesn't seem like such a crisis anymore.
