“Old people of Reddit, did you endure a “quarter life crisis”?

Quarter Life Crisis

July 29, 2021

In preparation for my Career Clarity program, I’ve been looking around the internet in the Quarter Life Crisis corners to see if anything new and exciting happened (after all the inspiration for this course came from wanting to help my Quarter Life Crisis clients).

​I found something.

Although not recent, I stumbled upon this Reddit thread…

I’m not a Reddit native so it took me a while to realise that there’s actually a group called Ask Old People.

I just thought he was being very…ummm…straight-forward. Lol!

But now that’s cleared up, let’s use this gem of a thread and pull out some learnings.

The problem is…

He doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life and he kind of thought he would by 25.

The problem also is…

He feels stuck in his career and doesn’t have an effective strategy for finding out what he will find fulfilling.

His strategy has been:

  • Try a job out
  • Don’t like it? Leave.
  • Hope the next job feels better.

It’s not a terrible strategy at all.

It’s the same strategy I had in my QLC and I’ll tell you what, it gets you experience, builds a network and it means you don’t fear change or get stuck at jobs for years on end.​

However, soon, the strategy wears you down. You get so tired of endlessly being on the job hunt and of always being the newbie learning yet another set of people’s names and fire exits.

All you want is to figure out where your place is in the world and sometimes all the positivity and self help books aren’t the answer ​

But how?

If only there was some kind of roadmap he could follow….

Well, he might not know it yet, but he’s following The Hero’s Journey steps to a T!

Side note, one of my favourite webinars to run is The Hero’s Journey as it’s perfect for anyone transitioning and lost, so join my newsletter to find out when the next one will be, but in the meantime, here’s a handy diagram of THJ to help.

The Hero’s Journey

He’s experienced Step 2 of The Hero’s Journey which is The Call to Adventure.

That call isn’t always feel good. A lot of the time it’s uncomfortable.

It has to be!

It’s meant to drive you away from the Ordinary World/ Status Quo (which is Step 1).

And the step after that, is 3 – Refusal of the Call.

He says he doesn’t mind settling – “I’d be perfectly content with…”

That’s fear talking.

Fear of the unknown place that this call is taking him.

His instincts, are those of the Hero (which is us too, we’re all heroes made for this journey).

He’s felt the need to seek wisdom from the elders.

Get a mentor

Step 4 of The Hero’s Journey is Meeting the Mentor and that’s exactly what he’s done!

So even though the guy feels lost and he doesn’t know what he’s doing, he’s actually following the ancient template of the hero – The Hero’s Journey.

You’re probably not that lost

From my experience working with Quarter Life Crisis’ navigators, I can tell you, you’re not as lost as you judge yourself to be.

I see you, feeling super stuck and lost.

But it’s actually part of the process.

If you’re doing like this guy and asking questions, seeking answers, learning, expanding your horizons, you’re on the right track.

​You may just need a mentor.

Resources

If you feel like you’re going through a Quarter Life Crisis and you want some help, here are all the ways I can help:

PODCAST: Navigating a Quarter Life Crisis. Listen HERE. This is an interview with Marty on his Career Therapy podcast.

FREE WEBINAR: How to navigate a Quarter Life Crisis. Go to my resources page HERE and scroll down. This is a recording of my most popular webinar.

SELF-PACED CAREER COURSE: The Career Clarity Essentials program. You can sign up HERE.

1:1 COACHING: Book a free breakthrough call HERE and let’s talk about what coaching would look like for your situation.

NEWSLETTER: And if none of those options jump out at you, but you do want some career nuggets in your inbox once a week, then subscribe to the Straight-talking Newsletter HERE.

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