Conquering Your Quarterlife Crisis by Alexandra Robbins (#19, Nonfiction)

Remember the beginning of the year when I said I was going to read self help books? Well, I have not totally ditched that idea. I bought this book back in January with a gift card and hadn't felt the need to read it until just now. It strikes me as funny that the book sat on my nightstand table for six months before I decided to read it. Why now? Why not three months ago when I was under couch arrest? Maybe some books are like people--they come into your life for a reason and it is all about timing. 

If I had picked this book up any sooner it wouldn't have helped me. The wisdom would have fallen on ears that were not ready to hear what the mentors in each chapter impart. One night before going to sleep I looked over at it sitting there under four other books and I grabbed it and started reading it. It pulled me in and it gave me hope for the future. 

Is the quarterlife crisis real? Is it something we all have to go through to make it to the other side of happiness? It is interesting that instead of having a midlife crisis, our generation has a quarterlife crisis. We search for who we are much sooner than our parents and grandparents and it isn't easy. It is a struggle but one that we have to embrace because when we find out who we are, we will be that much closer to finding happiness. Here are some of the gem pieces of advice I jotted down on my little post-it as I read: 

• Stop and listen to your life. Be still and wait. In the meantime, be the best person you can be. (6)
  
• You can rely on your instincts. (73)
• You should look for happiness in life itself, not just another person. (75)
• You need to do things on your own in order to grow. (135)
• You aren't powerless to change your situation. (136)
• If you're not moving you learn nothing. (139)
• Figure out what characterizes the adult you want to be. Then you shed the things you've outgrown but allow yourself to cling to the parts of your past you'd like to take with you. (178)
• I'm not in control of what happens, but I am in control of my reaction to them. (178)

Good stuff. I wish I had read this book a year ago.