A quarter life crisis is when young adults feel anxious or uncertain about their future. This can be due to reasons including career uncertainties, upsetting relationships or even a life-purpose existential crisis. This can lead many to have difficulties making decisions and lacking motivation in many aspects of life. 

 

A mid life crisis is a period of transition in life occurring between 40-60 years old where people struggle with feelings of uncertainty, unfulfillment, nostalgia and regret. 

 

Although I am not very close to either of these life stages myself, the ever growing closeness of my final exams, and the responsibility of having to make the seemingly fate-determining decision of how I choose to spend the rest of my education looming over my head - I am beginning to wonder why I have never heard of a 1/5th life crisis.

 

I say this light heartedly, understanding that my situation may not be nearly as close in severity to a quarter or mid-life crisis, and in fact it is a decision every student my age has to make at some point. However, my friends and I and peers around us are finding this point of our education, not easy, to put it simply, as up until this point for most of us, what we were expected to do whether it be in school or life in general, was predetermined by either our schools or our parents. Being in essentially complete control over where we allow life to take us next is exciting, yes, but hugely terrifying. It seems like yesterday we were only starting year 7, but by this time next year, many of us will be so far from where we began it’ll be hard to believe we all started here together. 

 

I never spent too much time thinking about this in my earlier years of secondary school, because honestly it felt too far away for me to be able to even put a finger on it. But with possibly only 7 months left for me here, it simply doesn’t feel so distant anymore. To the class of 2024, good luck, we are literally almost done!