The Crisis Is Real

Mid-life crisis, quarter-life crisis, call it whatever you want to call it.  The bottom-line:  there is a crisis!  By our definition, a life crisis is a disturbance and imbalance of the time - space continuum.  Simply put, a person has come to the realization that he or she has hit a roadblock in life that challenges the foundation of ones purpose for existence.  Being that we are dealing with a crisis, let us get right to it.

Like most things in life, before we can come to a solution, we must first define the problem.  In this case, how to tell if you are in the midst of a quarter/mid-life crisis?

Need for speed

Ever felt like jumping into a car and just putting your foot to the metal?  Yea, we’ve been there too.  The desire for speed and the craving for adrenaline are initial signs of a crisis to come.  This hunger for speed can commonly be triggered by the lack of a challenge offered by one’s surroundings.  The best way to describe this feeling is to imagine yourself lined up on a track preparing to takeoff…  BAM!  You feel a vacuum sucking you through the gravitational vortex and launching you into the unknown.  All you want to do is to go fast, to keep going and not stop.  Where are you going?  Where will you end up?  All of these questions constantly circulate around your head.  You do not have the answers (yet), all you know is that you want to keep moving, and to move at a very fast speed.  A race against time itself.

Lack of patience

Ever felt trapped in a confined box and unable to break free?  That is the exact feeling one experiences.  It’s easy for people to throw around the phrase, “good things come to those who wait”.  However, unless you are Sir Isaac Newton who happened to be at the right place at the right time, not everything in life is free.  For every winner there is someone crying in a corner.  The fact that you are unsatisfied with the current status quo is a sign that something has to give.  I myself for one have found my patience and tolerance for the stupid and mundane become thinner and thinner as I grow older.  Let’s face it, we are not getting any younger.  So why waste our time settling for the average?

What’s my purpose?

Coming to a full circle.  The two previous thoughts and experiences tend to lead to a common question:  “what is my purpose in life?”  When you hit that pivotal moment in life and you begin to see things differently (i.e. red pill vs. blue pill), things can get weird real quick.  No, we are not talking about a change in body fluid or facial hair (you read ManPossible for that kind of stuff).  We are talking about a change in the way you view the world and everything else around you.  BOOM!  You wake up one morning and realize that something feels different; something feels strange.  All of a sudden you come to the realization that you need to find a true purpose to keep you going; to keep you satisfied.  The simple act of getting up and performing the usual tasks just doesn’t cut it anymore.  You seek to find true meaning in going about accomplishing the day.  Recognizing the signs are simply a start.  The true question is: “how do we deal with this crisis?”

Slow down

For those in need for speed, we say “cool your jets turbo”.  It’s an admirable thing to want to keep moving and keep pushing forward.  However, when you are running around without any direction, it’s simply a waste of energy and time.  Sometimes we are so wrapped up in chasing things far ahead of us that we cease to acknowledge what’s right in front of us.  It’s wise for us to slow down and evaluate what we have and what we are working towards before setting off.  Having the drive to move forward is only half the equation.  The other half comes from setting the appropriate goals.

Take a break

Given that a full day only consists of 24 hrs and 1/3 (or less) of which involves resting, you will soon find time to be very valuable.  With that in mind, it’s quite common for most of us to try and pack in as much as we can accomplish in a single day.  The part of achieving such ambitious goals is to pack our schedule full of activities and then go about checking things off the list.  The truth of the matter is, no matter how meticulously we plan, there is no way we can accomplish everything in one day.  So instead of trying to overwhelm ourselves by doing everything, it’s recommended that we all just take a break.  The idea is to not do or think about anything and to let your body and mind rest.  You’d be surprised by what a weekend trip or getaway can do.  The best things in life usually come to those who least expect it.  A good break can result in helping you find new perspective on life.

Look back in time

I’ve always find myself reminiscing about the good old days.  Whenever I get stressed or find myself lost without a purpose, I tend to always find comfort in revisiting the past.  Similar to the notion of taking a break, remembering things that excited us in the past can really help put a better perspective on the present and future.  Remember how when we were kids, things were a lot simpler?  How we just basked in the joy of running around without a care in the world?  Remember how we had dreams and goals of who we wanted to be and what we wanted to do when we grew up?  When we look back in time to the past, it can help us redefine the individual we used to be.  The one who had a purpose in life.

Remember kids, the quarter and mid-life crisises are real.  The severity and situation might vary from individual to individual, but if you are ever faced with a crisis of your own, the best way to go about tackling it is to buy yourself a [red] convertible! ;)

by ManPossible