Life Advice for Your Quarter Life Crisis

Doubt. Uncertainty. Apathy. Lethargy. Yearning. Anxiety.

This can’t be it, right? There’s gotta be more.

Going through a Quarter-Life Crisis can feel overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. You are at an age where you aren’t so carefree with your actions and are acutely aware of your brief lifespan on Earth in this body, space, and time. It is as if the biological clock has begun to tick.

Oh, what I wouldn’t give to be young, dumb, and stupid again…

Let these emotions serve as your wake-up call to take the reins of your life and move towards something bigger, better, and more satisfying in the remaining three-quarters of your life.

What is a Quarter-Life Crisis?

According to a quick Google search, a quarter-life crisis is “a period of uncertainty and anxiety that can occur in a person’s twenties or thirties.” A quarter-life crisis is typically triggered after a major life event such as:

• Finishing higher education
• Working in a professional job
• Getting married
• Going through a breakup
• Having children
• Compounding debt

Although the nature of the event is not always negative it does require you to take a grander look at your life and evaluate where you are now and where you are headed on this current trajectory.

So what are concrete steps to move through this pivotal time of your life and rise above the emotions and adversity?

1. Evaluate where you are.

Consider the Five Areas of Life I discuss on my website:

Career & Finances

• Corporate World
• Passion Projects
• Money
• Savings Goals

Joy & Fun

• Recreation
• Self Expression
• Hobbies
• Creative Outlets

Relationships

• Family
• Friends
• Romantic Partners
• Co-Workers

Self Improvement

• Physical Well-Being
• Mental Well-Being
• Emotional Well-Being
• Personal Growth

Spirituality

• Church
• Energy
• Spiritual Curiosity
• Metaphysical Questions

Grab a pen and paper (you know I love to write by hand) or open up the Notes app on your phone and write out where you stand in each area of life. See below for some guiding questions. Keep in mind this is by no means a comprehensive list of what you can write about, anything goes really.

• Do you have a job? How do you feel about your job?
• What is the current state of your finances? Do you have any debt?
• Do you have any hobbies? List them out. Are any of your hobbies creative?
• What is the relationship like with your family? Friends? Coworkers?
• Do you have a significant other? If so, how do you feel about the relationship? If not, do you want to find a romantic partner?
• How is your physical, mental, and emotional well-being?
• How is your mindset?
• What would you like to improve about yourself?
• Do you go to church or have a spiritual practice? If not, do you want to?
• Do you have any existential questions or curiosities about how the world works?

Again, these questions are only a guide to help you start evaluating your life and determine how you feel about your life. You can just as easily free-write (which I love to do) about each category and then develop a list of where you are from those thoughts. The important thing is that you are honest with yourself and where you currently stand in life.

2. Determine what it is you want to change.

Once you have your list of where you are in each of the Five Areas of Life, the next step is to determine what it is you want to change about your life.

One way to understand this is to think about what it is you want to accomplish in life.

• What goals do you have?
• What does your ideal life look like?
• If you were 80 years old looking back on your life, what would you regret not spending your time on while you were young?

Grab that journal or Notes app to write about and reflect on what it is you truly desire in life. This will help inform which of the Five Areas of Life are not currently aligned with your larger life goal and what needs to change to lift you out of the quarter-life crisis life rut.

3. Create concrete steps to change.

Now for my favorite part, create a list of concrete steps on how you will move from your current place in life to where you want to be. This is my favorite part because I am a huge planner. Even when the plan shifts and changes (and trust me, it will shift and change), I find it comforting to at least have a guide that I am working with in my life. I dive into exactly what this looks like in my blog post on how to live an intentional life.

Focus on one area of life at a time and create goals on how you will move from where you are to where you want to be.

4. Take action and track your progress.

Sorry to break it to you, but your life will not change unless you take action.

So it is time to get to it!

With your list of steps to change, take action every day to work towards your desired life. Keep track of your progress by journaling (oop, there is it again!) or writing down in that Notes app what you accomplished towards your goals. Having a log of your effort to change will help motivate you to continue on the path of pulling yourself out of this quarter-life crisis.

Every day may not be a super positive, rainbows and sunshine kind of day, so it helps to make note of and record the positive changes you are making in your life to look back on when you are feeling down.

5. Have grace and take the leap.

Breathe.

Seriously.

Take a moment to exhale out all that you’ve been holding onto and breathe in that amazing, beautiful life force.

This is not it for you. The world is your oyster. You are still young and have a lot of life in front of you to live out whatever desires you have for yourself. The only regret you’ll have is not taking action sooner.

Have grace for yourself during this pivotal time of your life. You are on the precipice of greatness, I truly know it. All you need to do is relax, believe in yourself, and take the leap. Shake things up. You have a plan to turn around your life, all that is left is to go out and live it.