Where The Crisis Began

Oh, the experience that is my quarter life crisis. It all started around October 2008.
I started my 1st semester in graduate school, trying to earn my master’s degree in psychological counseling. I came to my university eager, ready and full of ambition. I was going to get my doctorate. I was going to be an even better Dr. Phil. I was going into counseling and I was going to love it, because after all, I had wanted to counsel since the 8th grade. I got my bachelor’s in psychology, loved all my classes. I was sure I was in the right place, doing the right thing and would get perfect results. NOT.

By the end of 2008, I still wanted to be a counselor; I just had a lot of fears and concerns that I was sure I’d work out. By the end of the spring semester in May 2009, I didn’t want to counsel anymore. I wanted to quit and have another career. As of today, I plan to get my feet wet (which means finishing my program and work on getting my license, all the while exploring my other interests-which I will explain-and if I absolutely HATE the hands on experience of counseling, I’ll move on). Now you would think that I wouldn’t feel like I’m in “crisis” now that I have a plan. WRONG. I have no idea how all of this is going to play out. What if “moving on” from counseling doesn’t work out? What if I don’t find ANY career that works out? What if, what if, what if?!?!

The quarter-life crisis comes in different forms for different people. My major concern is finding a career that I love. For others it’s finding love, handling parenthood, finally figuring out who you are; the list runs the gamut. Us 20-somethings are about to become REAL adults, and all we want is to have happy, exciting, fulfilling, successful lives. Many of us feel that if we don’t set our lives up for success NOW, the future will be sub-standard. I hope that this section of the blog will be useful to others.