You’re in your late 20s or early 30s. You want to lead a carefree life with all the mod cons, achieve something in your career, have a good social life, settle down with your perfect partner and perhaps have one or more children.
If one – or more – of those statements sounds like you, chances are you are dealing with the thirty-something dilemma (aka the quarter-life crisis or thirty-something dip).
The thirty-something dilemma is like a boomerang, the harder you try to push it away, the harder it will hit you when it comes back. The only real solution is to face your thirty-something dilemma head on. You might take a little comfort in the fact that the thirty-something dilemma is just part of your development as a person, like puberty or a midlife crisis. It is a time to rediscover yourself and rebalance your life with new insight.
Once you figure out how to overcome your thirty-something dilemma, the crises that you are sure to face in later life will be easier to handle. Put simply, you should embrace your thirty-something dilemma as a chance to build the future you want and live your own life.