Quarter life crisis (noun)
To be having a major panic because you are growing up. Quarter being because it is half way to your mid-life crisis. Example: “I am having a quarter life crisis”
As I approach the end of my first year at University, I’m slightly confused as to where this time has gone. I have my first exams in May and then that’s it. My first year is done and I’ve been alive for nearly 20 years.
I’ve been going to university since I was about 4 but to actually be here really has come out of no where. It has always been one of those things:
An adult of some description (Oh no, I’m an adult now, quarter life crisis alert): “So Hannah, what do you plan on doing with your life?” Me aged 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 , 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18: “I’m going to university to study Journalism”
[That isn’t strictly true, until I was about 13 I wanted to be a teacher but then I went to secondary school and saw how vile children could be and decided I would never teach. Plus, I haven’t got the patience for primary school children who are packed with enthusiasm let alone hormone riddled 14 year olds so it is better just to avoid education altogether.]
But now here I am, 20 this year and my answer to that question has to change. I’m not ‘going’ anymore I’m AT university and now I have to think about real life adult things such as a proper job and money and bills. I am not adult enough to have such responsibilities, I call my mum to ask her ‘washing questions’ on a regular basis how am I supposed to cope with anything more strenuous? That’s clothes washing by the way, I’m adequate in hygiene at this point in my old age.
My most recent wave of quarter life crisis was when I was re-writing my CV. I have not done so since I did my GCSEs (all of those years ago…) and when I saw that I had been at secondary school from 2006 – 2010 my quarter life crisis came and kicked me in the face all over again. At what point did I leave compulsory education 3 years ago? And in those 3 years what have I done of any productivity? I went to Sixth Form and now I am at university, but other than that… nada. To make things even worse I can’t even remember my first day of school. That really is old age right there.
Getting older does have some perks though. The only one I can think of right now is being able to purchase/consume your body weight in alcohol legally but I’m sure there are more…
There must be one more? Nope, there really isn’t. Maybe 2012 Doomsday wasn’t such a bad idea after all.