quarter-life crisis

We used to have children who went through puberty to become adolescents who matured into adults who encountered middle age and finally old age.  But now we can insert into this pathway the quarter-life crisis, the angst and anxiety experienced by those from age 25 to 30 who wonder what their life is worth and what they should do with it and whether they are going to achieve their goals (that’s if they can work out what their goals are).  Put like that it sounds terrible.  Constant soul-searching and that the awful feeling that, before their life even truly begins, they have lost out.

No sooner did we acquire the quarter-life crisis than it was accompanied by the three-quarter life crisis.  This is an affliction of those in their early 60s who wonder what their life has been about and whether any of it has been worthwhile.  This is combined with a sense that physically they are slipping.  They have a glimpse of old age and all that that might entail in terms of poor health, social isolation and financial distress.

Oh dear, oh dear!