For each statement that applies to you, add a point. Keep your total and see the score analysis below for results upon completion.
1. At least once a month you watch clips of old school Nickelodeon and other childhood materials. Or you break out your old Disney VHS collection until you’ve built up enough feelings of nostalgia to move you to deep depression or tears.
2. Considering quitting your job to chase your dreams is a regular occurrence each night before bed and every morning before work.
3. At 20-something years old you’re just now smoking cigarettes, marijuana or experimenting with some other drug for the first time.
4. You give yourself miniature panic attacks when you sit and think about how rapidly your 30s are approaching (or disappearing), with your 40s looming shortly thereafter.
5. You’d much rather stay at home on a Saturday night and have a glass of wine or a brew while watching Netflix, but instead you go out to avoid feeling “old.”
6. You often take lengthy, thought provoking drives to “find yourself,” but end up crying as Coldplay (or some other alternative rock music) surges through your speakers.
7. You really want a new tattoo, hairdo and/or piercing for no real purpose, other than that it’s new.
8. Drinking adult beverages used to make you carefree and social; now it makes you sad and sulky.
9. You’re dreading your next birthday the same way you used to fear going to the dentist as a child. (Aww, remember when you were just a little tyke, petrified to go get a cleaning? That feels like ages ago now, doesn’t it?)
10. The sight of hugely popular celebrities that are 18 OR UNDER disgusts you. Nothing personal, you just envy how lucky they are to be so young, wealthy and successful.
11. You feel a sense of urgency to get settled down so you can have a house, wife/husband and baby.
12. You didn’t finish school but you speculate what life would be had you gotten a degree, OR you graduated college but finding a job is so difficult, you’re wondering if it was even worth it.
13. You’ve strongly considered ditching your current situation and traveling the world, Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love style — but with the current state of the economy and a lack of funding, you held off.
14. At times you look around and feel like EVERYONE is doing better than you in every aspect of life.
15. Not only are things related to your current financial situation nerve-racking, they’re also rather perplexing.
SCORE ANALYSIS
0-5: Kudos to you for being so magnificent at life that you have little to no cares in the world. You must be highly successful or have an abundance of confidence. Whatever the case may be, it’s people like you that make the rest of us cringe at our current living situations. That’s not your fault though, we don’t hate the player — we hate the game.
6-10: So, you’re on the fence and undecided on whether you should keep calm and carry on or freak out like the rest of us. Look, if you can remain composed until you’ve found some way to muddle through this rough patch, I encourage you to do so. Take life’s lemons and do with them what you may but tread carefully — you’re not too far from hitting the panic button like us Quarter-Life Crisis-ers.
11-15: CRISIS ALERT! You’re officially in catastrophe prevention mode but that’s OK, there are others out there experiencing the exact same struggles. We can embrace this uphill battle and see the beauty in the breakdown. Let’s all just stop and take a few moment to drop all of life’s stresses right this very second. Take a deep breath and relax. Below are four methods we can try adapting to ease the growing pains that come with this tough stretch:
GUIDE TO THE QUARTER-LIFE CRISIS
Believe. Corny, I know — but 100% true! Invest and trust in yourself. If scarily large steps are necessary, then take a leap of faith into the unknown future and have enough confidence in yourself to either land on two feet or get back up after you fall and bust your ass.
Slow down. Deadlines and paying large amounts of attention to time are detrimental to one’s stability. Never feel rushed to make significant life changes. Hasty decisions don’t always pan out well and if you appreciate life for what it’s worth in this very moment, you’ll probably feel a whole lot better.
Do what’s best FOR YOU, not others. Whatever it is that you see other folks doing may seem alluring and enchanting but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right for you. Be comfortable making firm, independent decisions for yourself and spending time doing the things that you genuinely enjoy so that you‘re carving your own path instead of gliding through somebody else’s.
Whatever it is that you’re passionate about, DO IT: How many people aren’t chasing their dreams because they’re afraid that they’ll fail and end up right back where they began? Or perhaps they are misunderstood/discouraged by their closest friends and family. That can’t happen. You can’t allow that to stop you from doing what you love. Far too often people are working jobs that they hate, going to clubs that they loathe and living unsatisfied lives because that is what’s considered “realistic.” Throw “realistic” out of your vocabulary and dream the way you once did as a child. Like the Fresh Prince, Will Smith once said, “Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity.”
Millennials Worry How Connectivity Will Impact Our Future (Mashable)
For all the technology we have, it doesn’t seem to be bringing us much happiness, at least according to a recent survey by Euro RSCG Worldwide, an integrated marketing communications agency.
“This Digital Life” surveyed the opinions of 7,213 people in 19 markets and discovered that 55% of respondents believe technology is robbing us of our privacy, while more than half of millennials worry that a family member or friend will post inappropriate personal information about them online.
“Our probe into technology use revealed a number of emerging concerns,” says Tom Morton, chief strategy officer, Euro RSCG New York and co-chief strategy officer Euro RSCG North America. “First is the fear that social media and online data collection are chiseling away at our right to privacy. A majority worry that technology is robbing us of our privacy, and 6 in 10 think that people are wrong to share so much of their personal thoughts and experiences online. This isn’t an outsider’s or laggard’s concern: Two-thirds of millennials believe that their generation has no sense of personal privacy.”
“At the same time,” says Morton, “people worry that hyper-connectivity is actually making us feel less connected. More than half the sample worry that digital communication is weakening human-to-human bonds. As marketers, we have a dual role to play—to assuage people’s concerns about privacy and to create more meaningful connections.”
But perhaps the worst part of all is the enormous tools who rub in your face just how refreshed, energized, and motivated they are on Mondays. They bound into school or work with an air about them that says, “I got more sleep than you and ate Greek yogurt with homemade granola in the morning, please punch me in the face.”
GROWING UP IS HARD TO DO
by Lisa M. Gerry
One Sunday afternoon, as I scoured OnDemand for something to watch, I landed on old episodes of Laguna Beach, the drug of choice for 28-year-old nostalgics like myself. As I watched them get ready for prom and talk about boys—not husbands or babies, but boys—it hit me: I should do something crazy, like get my nose pierced!
I’ve had this idea before—usually after my dad asks about my 401(k), when a radio DJ calls the songs I listened to in high school “throwbacks”, or once after a particularly bad trip to the dermatologist where she declared the small red dots on my chest “age spots.”
But then I think about Harrison Ford’s earrings, Pamela Anderson’s high-cut bikini bottoms and the median age of Leonardo DiCaprio’s girlfriends and it’s decided—it’s too late for me. A stud in my nose would look pretty desperate.
Until recently, one of my best friends was living in a trailer on the bed of a truck. She wasn’t traveling anywhere, it just stayed parked in a lot in her Pleasantville-type town in Colorado. She had the money should she want a kitchen, or say, running water. But no, she chose to live out of a car, Jewel-style. It could be that she was rejecting society’s emphasis on achievement, or status—or bathing. But I see it differently. I think she was clinging to the seductive idea that we’re still young enough to be screwups.
It’s liberating to think that we’re still within the realm of youthful indiscretion. That we can get hammered during the week, show up to work hung over, and people will laugh, Oh, to be young again. But all of a sudden, the “adventures” we took in our early twenties are deemed reckless, irresponsible, even selfish. And stories of our one-night stands—which were once met with sly, envious smiles—now seem a little sad.
The stakes have gotten higher. What used to be a funny quirk—Oh Lisa, you always forget to pay your rent on time!—is now a legitimate deficiency that leads to a tragic night of shame-eating.
Granted, there are parts of getting older that feel very natural to me, like drinking alone, self-help books and the decadence of a good night’s sleep. But the part I don’t like, as I sit nose-to-nose with 29 and begin to feel forever’s hot breath on my neck, is the need to “buckle down” and “think about the future.”
Maybe I’ll start small. One of my money-minded friends has been begging me since college to create a budget and, perhaps, the time has come to dust off an old Excel spreadsheet.
But only if I can set aside some cash for piercings.
(Source: addtoany.com)
By 
I keep seeing myself everywhere — on billboards, television shows, magazine covers, and websites. And I know I am not the only one. Every time I read an article or trend piece about what it means to be a 20-something female right now, I feel a little cynical. It’s probably nothing I’ve haven’t heard before, but its still kind of annoying. The general sentiment is that we can all be summed up by television shows with the word “girl” in their titles and/or female bloggers who encapsulate everything it means to be totally lost while simultaneously caring about nail art. “Girls! They have such strange priorities! They have no idea what they’re doing!” Seems to be the overarching theme.
I’m aware that I might be the epitome of a 20-something Brooklyn girl. I started my early 20s in Williamsburg as a dog walker; I made around $200 a week and spent it all on booze and clothes. 60% of the guys I’ve dated I met on OkCupid, and the rest at bars (Union Pool). After a year in Brooklyn, I moved to San Francisco and spent 24 consecutive months of summer laying in the grass in Dolores Park, growing my hair long, and trying (and failing) to ride a bike. I started blogging about all of this, and landed the job that sort of shaped my career. Two years of grad school (M.A. in Media Studies, New School) and a few agency and freelance jobs later, I am now living in Greenpoint with my boyfriend and our cat. I’m not a unique snowflake. I see girls like me on the Internet all the time, and I’m happy about it.
We’re foolish with money and spend hours planning our dream closets on Pinterest. We claim to love our bodies but still read about juice cleanses and celebrity weight gain. We cry at home to Downton Abbey. We fall in love and have meaningful relationships that culminate in marriage. We’re single and not unlike bachelors of yore, with nice apartments filled with things we bought ourselves, including condoms and vibrators. For some reason, people love analyzing and editorializing these dichotomies like they’re exotic, but the truth is that we’ve always been this dynamic, we’ve just never so loud about it. That’s the thing no one’s really talking about.
The thing so many of the accounts of “girls” are missing is the fact that there is no roadmap for us anymore. Life has become (to our benefit), supremely al la cart, and we can pick and choose from it as we please. The only real standard we have for ourselves comes from the mirrors we hold up to each other, which have never been stronger or more accurate. For example, the “It Happened To Me” section on XOJane exists not just so the bloggers can confess the things they’ve done, but so other women can say, “Oh thank god, I thought I was the only one.” The ability for young women to connect and feel included has never been greater.
When we see ourselves in Zooey Deschanel or Lena Dunham, it’s an affirmation that the world at large is picking up on the fact that girls like us exist at all — and that our existence is meaningful, even if it doesn’t always make sense or come with clear instructions. We want to know who we are now as much as we want to know who we have the potential to become in the future, and other women who fundamentally remind us of ourselves are powerful barometers of everything that is possible. Especially when they blog daily and create popular television shows.
Which is why if there was ever a time to start a blog or a YouTube channel about your clothes, your apartment, the things that piss you off, the career you are pursuing, or what acne treatment you are using and how you are 27 and love Justin Beiber, that time is now. So many of us consider ourselves writers (and/or bloggers) because we have a need to tell our stories that goes beyond what can easily be assumed of us. We may not be snowflakes, but we are all very different. The one thing we certainly have in common is how much we enjoy learning about each other. We’re teaching each other the truth about real women, and that education is helping to eliminate a lot of the crap we learned growing up. Regardless of what you might have heard, it’s actually a really great time to be a girl.
The 20-something urban-dwelling woman is not a new experiment, but it does look and feel different than it did ten or 20 years ago. Part of that has to do with the fact that we are now telling our own stories, and can take ownership over what is being said, written, and produced about us. As much as we might feel attacked for not being the ideal upwardly-mobile young person, or for not being what the majority of society considers physically or morally acceptable for our demographic, or for blogging about our personal lives to begin with, we must remember that with every confession and truth we share about what it is like to be us, we are doing something great for girls in general. And for that, we should all be very proud.
Just remember, it may not interest the mainstream forever, and trust me — people will always make fun of you for it. But really, who cares? They can write about us all they want, just as long as we write about ourselves more. 
How Gen-Y and Millennials Can Avoid The Pitfalls of Burnout (Forbes)
By Noch Noch
What’s happened to Generation Y? With the opportunities and affluence around us, we seem to be more depressed than ever. There is a sense of void and emptiness within us despite our achievements. What can we do to prevent ourselves from falling into an emotional rut?
I was diagnosed with major depression in 2009, at the age of 28 years old. Today I’m recovering but still struggle. However, I have become more open about my challenge and actively seek ways to recover. Writing has become my therapy suggested by my doctors, and I also started blogging about my plight and reflections. I was caught by surprise. I had not expected people to actually read and resonate with my thoughts.
When I first received readers’ emails identifying with depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses, I was slightly shocked. I had not known how widespread the issue was around the world. Perhaps I hadn’t read much about it prior to my own fall, and maybe because most people do not necessarily chat about this over coffee. In fact, I think many of us still hide it from others, wary of how we’d be judged.
I was even more surprised when my friends, or people I went to school with, wrote to me and told me that they have been diagnosed with the same for a few years already. However, they were more reluctant to publicly admit their struggles. I would not have imagined these people whom I had known for so long to suffer from depression. But likewise, no one could believe I was taking anti-depressants and woke up everyday just wanting to die. After all, we all struggled hard to maintain the cool, calm, collected image.
More Gen-Yers than ever suffer from depression, anxiety, or some form of mood disorder. Of the 120 million depressed in the world, the World Health Organization estimates that the highest percentage belong to Gen Y, and in China, 50% of those who suffer from depression are in the age bracket of 20-35 and have had a university education. Mare than half of the respondents in Canada and the US reported to have felt depressed because of work in the past year, which is a much higher proportion than respondents in generations older than us.
We Gen Yers are fast paced, energetic, demand flexibility, and look for more than just a job. “Happiness” is now not sufficient; we want “betterness,” as termed by one of Harvard Business Review’s thinkers, Umair Haque – fulfillment, satisfaction, and the opportunity to chase our dreams. We demand flexibility and immediacy, and get annoyed when responses take more than 2 seconds to arrive. Instant gratification is paramount. We do not follow a set path of finding a well-paid job after university and stay there till retirement. Instead, we want to chase our dreams, especially as we are more geographically and occupationally mobile.
Yet, we are overwhelmed.
We were taught to expect a lot and that we had choices to do whatever we wanted. So we went about doing it. We expect a lot from ourselves too, and become disappointed when we finally realize that we are not omnipotent, and that we are stressed out. It is this discrepancy between our expectations and the reality that trouble us. We have titles, status and money, but we feel void and empty inside.
We lack purpose.
We have drive and motivation to succeed, and yet, we don’t know what or why we need to succeed. It seems that everything society bestows upon us becomes robotic and meaningless. Our passion for life works against us. We place challenges on ourselves that we don’t even know how to tackle. We want many things, and to accomplish too much in too little time. We are plagued a deadly virus, “Affluenza,” as coined by Oliver James that is responsible for the surge in depression and anxiety.
Nonetheless, we can avoid the pitfalls of burn-out, depression, stress, anxiety and the likes easily.
1. Know our thresholds
Know when to stop stretching ourselves. Improving ourselves is one thing, spreading ourselves too thin is quite another. Unfortunately there is no blanket solution for we have different limits at different times in our lives. What is important is to remember, that we are human and we will get weary. So sometimes, it’s okay to stop sprinting for achievements and take a break by the side of the track.
2. Prepare for melancholy
Prepare ourselves to face the challenges in mood. Everyone would get stressed once in a while but it’s how we manage the stress that makes the difference. When we are upset or feeling down, find the coping skills that match our personality. We need to be comfortable with our low moods, and for some it might be spending time alone to read a book, and for others, they need attention from friends. Whatever it is, be prepared.
3. Nurture our soul
Every now and then, take some time to spend only with ourselves. We could talk to ourselves, write, or go shopping on our own. Removing ourselves from demands of life and work – and people – will help us focus on our own well-being, be it exercise, diet, or just some time to spend on our hobbies, through which we find more satisfaction and fulfillment.
4. Determine our purpose
There needs to be an overarching purpose in our lives, as my shrink tells me. Is it to help others? Or to create and innovate? Is it to lead, or to be a team player? We need to find something that is the umbrella goal and vision for our lives. It’s not easy to find, and it took me a long time. Through my writing and therapy, I’ve come to realize that I get this little tingle of excitement in me when someone tells me they resonate with my thoughts and feelings. Slowly, I realized that I get excited when I can influence others. That is my purpose.
5. Increase self-awareness
Bring into our consciousness our thoughts and emotions behind our behaviour, and also our reactions to external stimuli. Self-awareness takes practice. The more we understand ourselves, the easier it is to find purpose in our lives and to control our emotions to avoid slipping into that dreaded darkness. I found Jay Uhdinger’s simplified and interactive version of cognitive behaviour therapy most helpful in setting off for self-awareness.
Phenomenon shows that Gen Y is more susceptible to mental illness, but this does not mean you have to slip into depression or burnt out zone like I did. You can pull the plug before you get there. Achievements and success is not mutually exclusive from happiness and betterness.
Find yourself. And you can stay away from the rut.
Another downfall of being in your twenties: each sex feels superior to the other. Girls hate boys, boys hate girls. It’s like elementary school again except this time cooties are real and they are called STDs. (Full article)
