Hitting your mid-twenties is a lot like going through puberty again: your body starts changing, you grow hair in places you didn’t know you could, and you might just question your identity. I did not have a guide when I entered into my quarter-life crisis, so I ended up with a guitar, a puppy, and an eHaromy profile. But fear not! I have created a survival guide of what to expect when you hit this milestone to help you make it through your quarter-life crisis in one piece.

There will be a shift in your friend group.

Gone are the days of day-drinking and hate-stalking old exes. No longer will you see your BFF and roomie every morning, afternoon, and night. As you enter your mid-twenties, you and your friends begin really “adulting.” This will most likely take different forms between all of your friends: some will leave undergrad and move on to grad school with hopes of avoiding adulthood (this is what I did), some will move in with their partners and start planning weddings, some may move away in search of greener pastures, and still others may start having babies ASAP. One thing is for sure, though, your core group of friends from your late teens and early twenties will change drastically; keep in mind, however, that change is not necessarily a bad thing. It is better to see this evolution as a way to grow in friendship instead of dwelling on “the good old days” when everyone lived in the same city, practically in the same house.

Your body will change in so many ways.

In your younger years, you could drink beer on Thirsty Thursday, eat four pieces of pizza on your way home, get two hours of sleep, and look damn good for you 8 a.m. class the next morning. When you enter your mid-twenties, all of that suddenly changes: Beer bellies and hangovers really do exist, heartburn is not something to joke about, and if you do not get between eight and ten hours of sleep a night, you hit snooze and go makeup-free for the day. Yes, sadly, your body will start to betray you. Someday, you’ll be driving in your car and notice a long white hair growing under your chin. Another day, you’ll realize you need to start wearing a stronger brand of deodorant because Secret Brand Cocoa Butter Kiss no longer does the trick. And you will finally know you have hit adulthood when you have to start checking your hair/arm/hands for snot after you sneeze. Do not let these things alarm you; you are not broken, you’re just getting older.

Dating rituals get weirder.

Everyone thinks that growing older means settling down with a life partner. Unfortunately, dating seems to only get trickier when you hit your mid-twenties. I have found myself categorizing potential suitors into three categories: wants to hook up, wants to propose tomorrow, or is not yet over his ex. This seems to be true for most free dating apps these days from Tinder to Plenty of Fish. Therefore, you may consider getting a “serious” dating profile on Match or eHarmony. Let me offer some money-saving advice: do not waste your time. I had just as many guys wanting to send me dick pics from those websites as I did from Tinder, and the guys (and girls, probably) on those websites are not like what you see on the commercials. I am not saying that dating during your quarter-life crisis is futile, I just want you to have realistic expectations because you are not going to hit this milestone of adulthood and find “the one” that easy. You may have to kiss a lot more frogs because dating in your mid-twenties is strange.

You will want to try and buy new things, and you will describe them to yourself and loved ones as “opportunities to grow.”

As a child, you always thought you would have your life together by now, didn’t you? Then, reality came and slapped you in the face with how hard the transition into adulthood really is, and you are left questioning your identity as you enter the real world. Therefore, you will begin thinking of new hobbies to take up in order to shape the person you want to be. I turned to slam poetry, learning the play the guitar, and adopting a puppy from a shelter. When asked about these seemingly random new endeavors, I would say I was “growing.” While my poetry career did not take off and learning to play guitar was muted by a puppy who thought it was a toy, I learned a lot about myself though these new experiences. If you want to try something, do it! If you fail, who cares? You might get an adorable little life companion named Whitman to hang out with for the next fifteen years.

You will survive.

The best thing about your quarter-life crisis is that you will make it into adulthood alive and much wiser. The bumps in the road will only help mold you into the person you are meant to become, and if you are able to laugh at yourself, you can recognize your quarter-life crisis behavior and embrace the awkwardness that accompanies it, much like the way you picked colors out for your braces when you were an adolescent.

Good Luck And Happy Crisis!