Midlife, Quarter-Life; crisis of definition

I felt this was going to happen.  I start off a blog with the intention of updating it every now and then, and now it has prematurely come to a halt. Well, since I'm stuck at home on a Saturday night, and I've completed "X-Men: Destiny" twice in the space of three days, I may as well write about something that I was meaning to write about. Despite the fact that I was meant to read up more on this topic, and I'm in danger of speaking from a personal standpoint, but I may as well type in a half "stream of consciousness" style, half posting referential links.

Around the time I hit 30, I had, for want of a better term, a midlife crisis. When I say "for want of a better term", after I told family, friends, people I cut out of my life (using the "midlife crisis" angle to reinforce my reasons for doing so), I had looked up the term "Midlife Crisis". Apparently I'm "too young" to be having one, and reading some articles on dealing with it always came up with the usual stereotypes, such as buying the fancy car, dressing differently, trying to recapture youth, and so forth. And these articles are directed at those with the family, kids, mortgage, career etc.

But I don't fall into that category at all. I feel old, now that I'm no longer in my twenties. I've been told by everyone (by which I mean family, friends, work colleagues) that I'm not old, that I'm making a big deal of being 30 ("it's only a number", "you're still young"). Do I feel old because I'm dissatisfied with my life? I guess so. But I'm sure those people who are in the 40s and 50s feel the same way, hence why they are permitted to suffer a "midlife crisis".

Image taken from "The Sun" website.
If they can "copy & paste" then so can I.

And before you ask "why don't you do something about it", in reference to my dissatisfaction with my life? Long story short: I made a plan around the time I hit 30, I hoped to make great strides by the end of this year, but I hit a few snags (relating to personal and health issues, along with some unfortunate circumstances), and now I've gone down not to square "1", but square "-100". So I'm just gonna leave it at that.

It was during this shitstorm that life, for whatever reason, loves to throw at me, that I read an article in the Metro Herald that people my age are now experiencing midlife crisis. So that gave me some sort of validation in my self prognosis in what I was currently experiencing. I began to find the article on the internet, but when I saw the article replicated on Fox News and The Irish Sun, I began to become skeptical. Especially with the last article, when the Sun just replaced "Australian" with "Irish" in the text.

It was during this time that I was introduced to the concept of Quarter-Life Crisis. I had never heard of the term before, but it seemed to be around for quite a while. So now I am comparing and contrasting these two depressing stages one may suffer in their lifetime, and I'm thinking to myself; do these even exist after all? Now, I'm not one of these people who would lambast a type of mental illness or disorder such as depression or seasonal affective disorder, saying that they don't exist. It's easy for people to criticise something that they have not experienced, or have no knowledge of. While I have never suffered from Coulrophobia, I would never give out about people who say they do.

And if I was to make fun of the subject, I would put it down to the titles themselves. If what I am going through is a midlife crisis, would that mean I'll die when I'm 60? But if it's a quarter-life crisis, does that mean I''ll die when I'm 120? Yes I'm being pedantic, but hey, I'm trying to inject a little bit of my sense of humour at this point, even if may be a little sarcastic. Maybe I should leave the jokes to this guy.

Apologies to those who suffer from Coulrophobia.

My reason for questioning the existence of these life crises, is that both of them are pretty similar, yet both are divided by age groups. I feel like I'm going through a midlife crisis, but if this is actually a quarter-life crisis, then I fucking dread to think what would happen when the actual midlife crisis happens. Call me skeptical, but the term "quarter-life crisis" sounds like it was invented by a hypochondriac who is making an excuse as to how their life has turned out. But the same can be said for those who are in the "proper" age group for the midlife crisis. 

Sure we all suffer setbacks, hardships and regrets in our lifetimes, to which the most critical of people would the cliched phrase, "that's life". But these can also result in a crisis of faith in ones self. Life is hard enough as it is, so much that it can be hard to put into words. Which is why I was comfortable with the term "midlife crisis", which gave me an understanding as to what I'm going through, which could develop the mindset that if I am unhappy with the first half of my life, then maybe I should do something about the second. But if I am actually going through a quarter-life crisis, then in my mind, I've a long way to go before the real pain in life begins.

So whatever it is that I'm going through, call it midlife crisis, call it quarter-life crisis; but I have a more fitting title for it.....a pain in the ass.

And on a final note.....

In an another attempt to inject some humour into this piece, even at this late stage, I'm gonna post my favourite Faith No More song. The title of this track is fitting after all.