I Turned 25 and the World Didn't Explode

A couple of weeks ago I turned twenty-five. 

*cue Beethoven’s 5th Symphony*

*cue the terrifying screaming*

*cue the music from Psycho*

*cue the music from Jaws*

Okay, I’m done. Despite cueing all of the crazy horror-movie sound effects, turning twenty-five was not the bad it’s said up to be. Who says it’s bad, you ask? Generally the people who are approaching the age. And, it’s a documented “crisis.” It’s called a quarter-life crisis, much like the ever-famous mid-life crisis, and that’s exactly what it is. A bona-fide, motherfucking crisis.

You basically approach the milestone with great trepidation and the feeling that you are about to go completely insane. Do you actually? Maybe. That part is up to you. Nine times out of ten it’s you doing it to yourself and I can attest to that. In the few weeks leading up to my birthday I went through this mental break where I was sure I was going bat-shit crazy. I’m used to having spikes of anxiety here and there—it’s been my way of life for what seems like forever—but this was unlike anything I’ve ever felt. Yet it has since disappeared just as quickly as it materialized.  

The quarter life crisis is born from the inane theory that we have to have our entire lives together by the time we turn twenty-five. Sometimes it can be thirty; the whole crisis itself is said to affect people from 25-35. When you reach that age and realize that you don't have everything you've ever wanted or your life didn't turn out exactly how you planned, you tend to freak out. 

It’s hard to shake the notion that we need to have our lives together by a certain point. We think that if we don’t we’ve failed and that’s it. Now you’re branded a failure. The only thing that hinders you from moving on and achieving what you want is the dejected feeling that comes with the quarter life crisis. You are doing this to yourself and you are the only one that can break free from it. Of course, it sounds one thousand percent easier to do than doing it actually is but it’s the only solution.

You think to yourself: “I’m turning twenty-five and I have no job in the field I want, no boyfriend or fiancé or husband, I’m not financially stable,” and so on and so forth. The list of achievements you think you should have goes on and on and varies from person to person. The funny thing—there are people who have careers, significant others and are financially stable who go through the crisis too. It’s about not achieving what society thinks you should, what you think you should have achieved, and sometimes it’s a mix of both. Whatever the reason, the feelings of craziness and utter despair are the same and it’s something you need to move past.

There’s also this whole becoming aware of your own mortality thing which is a separate issue and it sucks and it’s something you shouldn’t worry about either. (Why do I know? Because it was on my long list of things to freak out over). 

Some people do have their lives together by twenty-five and that is great for them. They don't have to be bothered by this and can wait for the mid-life crisis like everyone else. But for the people who aren't where they want to be or where they planned to be--its okay. You are okay. There is no time limit in which you have to accomplish certain things. In this world, it takes time. Everything that is meant to happen will happen in its own time. As long as you have faith and believe that you'll never go wrong. 

I turned twenty-five a few weeks ago and I realized that I'm fine. Nothing has changed. I'm still the same person I was at twenty-four. I know that it's okay that I'm still looking for my career job and that love will find you when it's meant to. I know, truly, that everything will work out as long as I work hard to get there and stop setting time limits for myself. 

Besides, I have five years to accomplish what I want by thirty.