The Quarterlife Crisis

MSN reports the newest crisis facing twentysomethings is the "Quarterlife Crisis" as opposed to the "Midife Crisis." Conversations with several of my friends reveal that this article contains an interesting insight to consider. When talking about a friend's job, the friend always seems to defer to the "money issue." That is, a comment such as "well this is where all the money is at nowadays" sneaks into every conversation. Besides the obvious rejoinder of "well if you knew where the money was nowadays you probably wouldn't need a 'job,'" the implicit message is: "I have a horrible, monotonous, mindless job with little future, but hopefully I will make money doing it." These are the same people who will quickly purchase a house (subsidized by the illusory mortgage boom), or maybe a new car and then will quickly be locked into a future of the same, mundane routine just to squeak by and pay the bills each month. Then, all of a sudden, they will turn 30. Don't get me wrong, it's not really about the money--they just talk about money in the struggle to justify their unhappy existence.