Ambiguity after college scares

By Annie Countryman and Amy Magruder

"It's so much easier to dream when you're in college. When you get out, a lot of things get put in front of your dreams and you can't see that any more, and when that happens you lose that light and energy you need to achieve your dreams." This is a quote from Collin, taken from Quarterlife Crisis by Alexandra Robbins and Abby Wilner.

Have you ever wondered where these years are taking you?Ever feel secluded and overwhelmed?

Thinking about going to grad school because you have no idea what you want to do?

Do you question whether you'll make it in the world, or even worse, you've never thought about it at all?

If you don't know what you're doing, you're not the only one. Otherwise there would be no phenomenon dubbed the quarterlife crisis, which typically affects people in their early to late twenties.

There are many signs that are comparable to the midlife crisis, such as need for drastic change. The difference is that with a midlife crisis, your choices are so limited that you feel as though you have no options. With the quarterlife crisis, there are simply too many opportunities to contemplate.

This is relatively easy for many of us to understand, particularly for seniors who will soon be entering the real world. Where do we live? What do we do? Who do we hang out with? Do we settle for something comfortable or take a risk?

For those of you graduating early, will you stay here and hang out, or will you go back home, escaping the real world for just a little bit longer?

"When I graduated and wasn't defined any more by what I was studying and where I went to school, I was really struck by how much I didn't have my 'self' figured out ... It's a strange and unnatural pressure that we feel upon graduating to hurry up, grow up and enter the 'real world' - a phrase I think represents an MTV show or a myth rather than a real thing," said one recent graduate of Oberlin College.

After defining ourselves by what we do, whether it be school now or a job next year, there is no real in between period to find who we really are. Take time. Don't jump into something. Don't base things on what you 'should' be doing and what seems like the most comfortable situation.

Years from now, you just might figure out that you could have been happier if you had taken a risk or dared to find out who you are rather than labling yourself.