Now that you've graduated, having toiled for many years to earn that shiny degree hanging so uselessly on your wall, what are you going to do next? Are you sincerely happy with where you are now? Do you have a grand-dream waiting for your attention in a card-board box under your bed while you get busy paying the bills and hating your job? If this sounds like you take comfort in knowing that it's you and every other quarter-lifer. Being a twenty-something year old is one of the most difficult periods you will ever have to go through. So much attention has been given to puberty and adolesence that this higher stage of human development has gone unnoticed. Many even doubt that it exists. And perhaps for our parents it didn't exist - all I know is that an overwhelming number of quarter-lifer's I've talked to in the last two years have all reported feeling the same way: confused, scared, an awkward sense of being a child in an adult's body, of pretending that you're all-grown-up when really deep down you feel helpless, a sense of drifting - that life isn't going anywhere, there are signs of depression and disillusionment with life. Let's face it, this is worse than puberty. This is puberty 2.0 and it's meaner and badder than before. At least last time you had you parents and teachers to hold your hand while you transitioned. Now you're thrown into the world just as, if not more, confused and disoriented than you were before and expected to navigate your life all on your own.

I'm here to tell you your feelings are justified. You're not weak, or crazy or unable to get your shit together. You're just a normal quarter-lifer and you need to take some time to figure our what you want to do and how you're going to do it. It may take years, so be patient with yourself. Just know that the right path is out there, and that you will find it as long as you keep looking.