First and foremost, screw you quarter life crisis. Thank you for reminding me that I'm basically one quarter done with my existence and that much closer to dying. As morbid as that sounds it's the sad truth that dawns upon me every now and then.
By the time most people get to this stage in life they have a lot already figured out. They have some form of college degree. Living independently from their parental units is a reality by now. They're having kids on purpose now. Big people jobs like the ones Tommy and Chuckie imagine in that weird ass episode of Rugrats has become a scary image right around the corner.
It's a hard pill to swallow, coming to the conclusion that so much of your life has come and passed you by. Your childhood is long gone and you find yourself making those "back in my day" comments that you made fun of when hearing them years ago. You're way past either making your own doctor appointments or googling your symptoms into a web browser and deciding well it's been a fun ride while it's lasted. When did we become the adults? Was it when we bought a slow cooker and had to actually buy our own shampoo and dishwashing liquid?
You have absolutely no idea what's cool anymore also. You can try and keep up on the trends all you want but you reach a certain age where you hear the shit high schoolers are saying and it basically sounds like another language.
It becomes difficult to look on the bright side and see your life as having three quarters of opportunity still left. We may be in our mid twenties already but there is still so much you could go do. Traveling isn't just for teenagers on spring break trips. Trying new foods isn't just for rich people who can afford to pick the weird unpronounceable food item on the menu. Changing careers isn't just for college sophomores who completed the curiosity stage and are now thinking super hard about what the hell they want to do.
Dye your hair a new color. Get that dog you've been thinking about ever since you came across that ad on pet finder. BUY PETFINDER. The point is we spend so much time thinking about what we could have done and all the time wasted we forget to remember all the time we still have ahead of us. I think once we get to a certain age we dread the end so much we never really grasp the opportunities so blatantly ahead of us.
