I understand that there are general distinct periods in a person's life that are associated with massive change, and this can cause people to rethink their position in life and their identity. However, I still think it is a little simplistic to name these crises distinctly. As I mentioned to lil above, I've already experienced a number of these events, and I know other people who have as well. Sometimes these crises don't follow in the stereotypical patterns.
Are they all "quarter-life crises"?
No they are just life crises, and there are many. In my blog, I was trying to describe the specific characteristics of a quarter-life crisis. Wikipedia says the symptoms come on when a person first faces "the real world" - the specific difficulties that coincide with realizing you are responsible for your life and that things might be harder than you thought. I don't think having my father die when I was 16 was related in any way to a quarter-life crisis. That was just a crappy thing that affected my family. The quarter-life crisis is a specific kind of disillusionment -- and I don't think it happens to everyone. (and maybe too, it doesn't exist) - Keep us posted on your NYC experiences.
Ya, I know I am being difficult with this. But I definitely see your point. I think we can find some general defining characteristics of these events in people's lives. Unfortunately, my NYC experience has been a little disappointing so far. I've caught a bad cold and I'm having trouble enjoying myself. I went to the MoMA today and Central Park.
There's no doubt that it is an over generalization and I would imagine that many people use the cliche as an excuse to purposefully exhibit bad behavior. But most cliches exist for a reason.
Ya, I mean I could be wrong. To be honest, my opinion here is uncharacteristically based off of my own personal experience and from anecdotal observations of people in my life.
Opinions are allowed to be based on personal experience and anecdotal observations :) In a lot of situations that's probably all most of us have to work from, unless you've somehow managed to research and memorize scientifically sound data on every possible aspect of life... I think the important distinction is in knowing that your opinion is based on potentially flimsy data paired with the ability to re-examine your opinion when presented with more robust information.
You're aloud to base your responses on your own experiences from time to time and not solely on compiled scientific data :)
I am? I feel a little uncomfortable making a claim without having a statistically significant p value to support it!