For the first time in your life you find yourself on the doorstep of what your parents called “the real world”. You’ve always had your ideas about what to expect from this alternate reality and you’ve planned your life accordingly. You’ve dragged yourself through majors, double majors, internships, fellowships, apprenticeships and the deep dark depths of your bank account to get to this very moment. And now that you’re finally here, it fucking sucks. If you were lucky enough to find a job, you’ve likely found it about as interesting as shoveling shit can get. You’ve spent the vast majority of your life being a mediocre student, and now that school has faded into the shadows you may feel like life has come to an abrupt halt. You’ve reached a dead-end with your hands tied and you dreams mocking you from their dusty corner under the bed. Well, guess what? You’re knee deep in your quarter-life crisis baby. Now, unless you've lost your mind in the process, you probably want to do something about this. I suggest enlightenment. According to Buddhist teaching, the first step is to vanquish your attachment to all the material things that have kept you comfortable all these years. Well, as far as your quarter-aged ass is concerned, the world as you knew it has vanished right from under your feet. You’re already way past the first step. Next comes meditation. But if you, like most people, can’t find the time or discipline to do this simply practice remaining silent. Resist the urge to speak unless spoken to, and just listen and observe the outside world. The thing your probably didn't expect is that the moment you stop crying about how much your life sucks, and start listening to what life actually has to say, you'll find opportunity knocking on every corner. You're simply to busy listening to your worried thoughts to realize what's really out there. The next, truly horrifying, step is to stop comparing yourself to others. Here is the heart and soul of your quarter-life crisis: the reason you suffer is because you perceive a lack in your life and the reason you perceive this lack is because you fail to perceive it in others. We all know people who have succeeded in eluding their quarter-life crisis only to thrive in the most enviable way. The mistake many people make is to view these success stories as models of what quarter-life should be like instead of the shining exceptions they really are. If all narrative had the same basic plot, there would be no point of telling the story.