15 signs you’re having a quarter-life crisis

Weren't we meant to have our lives together by now?

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Ah, your mid-twenties. What was once a settled period of contentment for many people has become a tumultuous time of confusing uncertainty for today’s young adults, many of whom feel stuck in permanent adolescence.

Single with no chance of settling down anytime soon? Miles away from ever being able to get a foot on the property ladder? No idea where your life is going? Welcome! You are in the prime position for a quarter-life crisis.

Fear not though - everyone’s having them so you’ll be bang on trend.

You could be in the midst of one right now and not even know it. Here are the 15 signs you’re having a quarter-life crisis:

1. You’re starting to question what your purpose in life is. WHY DID YOU PUT ME ON THIS EARTH, GOD? WHAT IS THE POINT OF MY EXISTENCE? (In a less morbid way than it sounds.)

2. You’re frustrated at not being able to figure out the answers to the above.

3. You’re terrified by the thought that your best years may be behind you and you still feel like you haven’t done anything with your life. Remember being 15 and thinking about how at 25 you’d have your life together and be smashing it? Good joke (cry).

4. Social media makes you feel anxious and you can’t help but feel freaked out every time an engagement or baby announcement pops up, even though you don’t want to get married or have kids yet.

5. Listening to Taylor Swift’s 22 brings on an existential crisis because guess what, you’re not 22 any more and maybe not everything will be alright, Taylor.

6. Going into Forever 21 is equally conflicting (shouldn’t you be shopping at Reiss and Jigsaw by now anyway?).

7. But you keep telling yourself 25 is the new 21. It is. It really is. I’m going to keep writing about it until everyone agrees it is anyway.

8. You're torn between wanting to be a proper grown-up and wanting to be looked after by your parents in a bubble of safety and comfort forever.

9. You feel the need to escape somehow.

10. You’re torn between thinking ‘F*** it, I’m going to pack in my job and go see the world while I can’ and ‘S***, I need to climb the career ladder and work really hard so I can achieve some success in my life’.

11. You’re offended when you’re ID’d but even more offended when you're not.

12. You buy yourself an expensive handbag or gadget because you want it to appear like you’ve got your s*** together even though you’re not sure you can pay your rent this month.

13. You don’t know whether you should be dating around and having casual fun or trying to find the one because everyone tells you something different.

14. Your temporary job has somehow lasted three years.

15. Whilst you and your peers were once all impoverished youngsters together, you’ve realised that your friends working in higher-paid industries will likely be richer than you for the rest of your life and the gap between your incomes is probably only going to widen, which kinda sucks.

But remember, fellow young grasshoppers, life isn’t about money or marriage or any of the things we’re freaking out about. And most of all, it isn’t a race.

Whilst it’s true that being in your 20s now is different to how it was for our parents, your 20s have always been a time for figuring out who you are and what you want to do with your life. We’ll get there.