Over the last few weeks I’ve encountered an ever-increasing number of people between 23 and 27 who suddenly realise they’ve got to do something with their lives. It’s interesting because I went through a similar crisis/phase of anxiety when I was 26/27.
At the time, I had been studying for ages at the University of Cologne, while working part-time throughout in a job that wasn’t particularly ‘me’ or inspiring but that got the money in (mainly in the field of ‘care assistant’, for disabled people and also in an old people’s home). I had been doing this job in one way or other since I was 19, and, even though I was doing English, German, and Scandinavian studies, my entire professional experience and expertise was in the area of a social care job.
After my 26th birthday, I suddenly realised I wanted to get away and start again. This idea wasn’t fully developed at the time and not thought out but I had this urge inside me to leave Cologne and to get away. I took the last bit of speed I had on me and snorted it, before going to the bus station that would take me to London. When I sat on the bus, with my pulse racing and my heart beating, I somehow knew I wasn’t going to come back. While I had planned to stay away for 6 months and then return to finish my studies (I only had a year or so to go), I instead haven’t been back since, apart from some holidays here and there.
The age around your mid twenties, then, seems to be some kind of a first ‘midlife crisis’ - you are no longer a teen and irresponsible, you have likely moved out of your parents’ house, and it’s beginning to dawn on you that this is it now. You urgently feel that you have to start doing something now, because if not, you might end up stuck in a dead-end job/a career you don’t want/without a degree/a druggie with not much experience other than dossing and switching from temp job to temp job.
Being confronted with some people around me currently going through this (not mentioning any names, nae worries 
) this made me realise that I too had exactly the same kind of dilemma, and, making the changes that I did and refocussing and switching direction was one of the best things I could have done. Back then, I had a few months where I felt very anxious and panicky. I think it was some kind of existential anxiety as I didn’t have the answer to the question what it was that I wanted to do. There was just this feeling of urgency, of wanting to change stuff, and the realisation that if I didn’t I might end up working forever in the one job where I had considerable professional experience: social care 
Some years later, however, it has all fallen into place.
If you’re between 23 and 27 and you recognise some of the above: this is the best time to make changes, and to make them successfully. Sure, you can make changes at any stage in your life. But for some reason, this early midlife crisis and the looming 30th birthday on the horizon is a very good motivator to get you started. It would be a shame to miss it
“Wenn einer in sein dreißigstes Jahr geht, wird man nicht aufhören, ihn jung zu nennen. Er selber aber, obgleich er keine Veränderungen an sich entdecken kann, wird unsicher.”
Filed under: Daily life, Work
Definitely true. I think I had this crisis a little later, 28ish, realizing I’d soon be 29 (which is almost the same as 30), and it pushed me to get my first full time job, just a little more than half a year before I turned 30…