Getting Over Your Mid-20s Crisis

Quarter-life crisis? What’s that? With our research, you’ll get over your mid20s slump in no time.

 

- Rebecca Whish

If your BFF list went through a drastic reshuffle once you hit your mid-20's — “bed”, “pyjamas” and “TV” are now your new best buddies — don’t worry, you’re not alone. According to European researchers who studied the call patterns of millions of cell phone users in one country, a woman’s social circle generally reaches its peak at the age of 25. Happily, that doesn’t mean you’re going to be a spinster with more cats than friends.

If anything, “work and guys” was a killer combo that caused Anita’s* mid-20's crisis. “I’d been working as a journalist since I left college,” she explains. “I didn’t know what excited me on a work level anymore. I was putting myself under immense pressure and questioning where my life was going. Then I broke up with a guy I had been seeing for a year. When you’re not happy at work, or in love, you feel pretty wretched. I certainly used a lot of Kleenex.” Anita’s not the only girl who wishes she’d bought shares in the tissue company prior to her quarter-life dramas.

So why the freakout? If you ask Google about the Quarter Life Crisis (QLC), you’ll find a few million opinions explaining why it happens. To narrow it down, we spoke to some experts.

Unrealistic Expectations