Recently updated on: December 27, 2023
When we were much younger, we thought our 20s going into our 30s would be the best years of our life.
We often imagined that because we thought we would earn easy money while always hanging out with friends.
At least, that was what's often portrayed in How I Met Your Mother and FRIENDS.
Suddenly, you realize it is not what you expected and feel lost and anxious about your life and future.
You feel disillusioned and discontent about what you thought you'd do after graduating from college and try to find an escape.
If you feel some of these, then you may be experiencing a quarter-life crisis. Here are ten possible signs.
Table of Contents
1. Staring at the Ceiling, Questioning Your Life Choices.
The first sign of a person going through a quarter-life crisis is questioning many of their decisions in life.
You are unsure whether the choices that you have made so far are the right choices for you. You question your educational choice, job, and even some of your deeply-held beliefs.
You feel lost and don't know where to go next. Time seems to be moving so fast, but you're going nowhere.
2. You Want To Change to a More Meaningful Career.
You thought you wanted to be an engineer, lawyer, doctor, or accountant for most of your life. Suddenly, you don't feel like it is your true calling when you finally achieve it.
You feel trapped in a profession, gradually taking all your energy until you have nothing left, only because it's related to your degree.
So you want to shift to a more meaningful career worth your time, like working for an NGO, teaching, or farming.
All of a sudden, money became not as important as you thought it was. You want to find joy in doing work that has more societal impact.
3. You’re Anxious That Your Friends Are More Successful Than You.
Whenever you scroll through social media, you often see your friends and schoolmates looking like they are having the best days of their lives.
They had their own car, got promoted, went on a fancy vacation, just got married, or had children.
You feel so left out that your life is nowhere as successful as theirs, and just try not to compare your life with theirs.
4. You Want an Escape From Your Adult Responsibilities.
You started living alone, away from your parents, to establish yourself as a full-fledged adult for the first time.
However, you never realized how difficult it is to pay the rent, utilities, and subscriptions, perform your familial obligations, and take on other responsibilities while still hoping that you can travel somewhere lovely, like Europe or South America.
The reality is these responsibilities are not going away, so you dream that you can just crawl back to the safety of your mother's embrace and take a nap.
5. Feeling Like a Failure Because You’re (Almost) in Your 30s Without Significant Accomplishments.
You often think you should have accomplished many goals because Mark Zuckerberg did many things before reaching 30.
However, you realize you don't have the necessary skills to get promoted, the capital to start a business, or the credentials to achieve your dream job.
6. Or You Feel Like an Impostor That You Don’t Deserve Any Success That You’re Having.
On the other hand, when you achieve relative success in your career, you feel like you don't deserve it and that others are more qualified than you.
You often think that what you gain is only because of sheer luck, and you are afraid of being discovered as a fraud.
7. You’re Conflicted About Whether To Climb the Corporate Ladder or Be a Blogger/Vlogger Who Travels the World.
You're trapped in the rat race, aiming to climb the top of the proverbial corporate ladder. Among your competitors are some of your teammates and dozens of your fellow employees.
Sometimes, you feel very productive and can aim for a yearly promotion.
But on most days, you think that being a blogger or vlogger who travels the world is the life you want to have.
8. You Feel Disconnected From Your Peers and Family.
You feel other people won't understand what you're currently going through. You can't get decent advice from older people because they can't grasp your struggles.
However, you also don't want to share them with your friends or co-workers because you think they'll judge you or ignore your situation of feeling lost.
9. Or You’re Looking for Someone Who Understands What You’re Going Through.
There are also times when you just want to find someone to talk to who is willing to listen to all your rants about your stresses, doubts, and insecurities.
You don't want advice or anything, just an ear that would listen or a shoulder to cry on.
10. You Don’t Know if You’ll Ever Be in a Serious Relationship.
You may have just got out of a long-term relationship, are currently in a dead-end relationship, or have never been in one.
You are afraid that time will pass you by and you will never find the love you "deserve."
You're approaching your 30s, or already past that point, so your parents and relatives are starting to pressure you to find a spouse.
Still, you are overwhelmed by so many things happening in your life, so you decide to ignore them and have a cup of coffee.
Final Thought:
This season will be one of the most critical seasons of your life. There will be a lot of changes and challenges, but you need to persevere.
This will be overwhelming because you are like a string being pulled by many priorities and responsibilities such as family obligations, personal goals, career goals, looking for your true calling, or looking for a love life.
Just remember that when you feel like your life is falling into pieces, think of it as falling into place.
Through this experience, I hope and pray that you'll also discover what I discovered, to put God in the center of our life and nothing else and to trust Him fully that everything will be better.