The life crisis.
What is the life crisis? The quarter-life crisis, the midlife crisis, among others.
When does this crisis occur?
Who does it happen to? Why do some people not have one, while others have them multiple times a day?
What spurs this crisis? The accomplishments of others? Our own recognizition or our unsatisfactory progress in life?
Might these crises be constructive in our personal development?
Perhaps I have more questions than answers here, but all questions deserving of attention.
Awesome. This is totally Human Development and social identity stuff! A couple of my favorite topics. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're right to call this a life crisis. Researchers have abandoned the term mid-life crisis, because this is also occurring through young and old ages.
Some researchers are saying that much of these crisis events occur when we are either dissatisfied with certain areas of our life or when our future is too ambiguous. People like to know their fate and when its unclear it can create anxiety and stress. Specific to the context the stress is in fact related to our past, present, and future selves. Who was I? Who am I? Who will I become? These are some pretty common questions regarding a life crisis. Its common for people to go out and do a bunch of activities (i.e. travel) to "cure" their life crisis. Though this is short lived (hedonic treadmill?!).
Some research suggests that this occurs because we have inaccurate expectations as to what will make us happy.
I definitely believe that these life crises are constructive.
I could talk about this all day, but I can't right now. :P