Quarterlife Center - Counseling for Young Adults

Are you feeling stressed out? Here are 4 tips for reducing your stress: 1) Nurture yourself. Do whatever it is that nurtures you. Take a walk. Call a friend. Read a book. Journal. Meditate. Cook your favorite meal. Get a massage. Take a nap. Watch a movie. Make time to do whatever it is that helps you unwind and relax. 2) Practice gratitude. Start a gratitude journal. Try it for 1 week and see how it feels. For 1 week, write down 3 things each day that you are grateful for. Examples are “I feel happy about my new shoes,” “I am thankful for my supportive brother,” and “I’m grateful that I’m in good health.” 3) Reach out to friends. You don’t have to (and you shouldn’t) manage your stress alone. Research has found that social support is an important factor in reducing stress and improving physical and mental health. The number of friends you have is less important than the quality of your friendships. In other words, regardless of the number of friends you have or how often you talk to t...

  Do you complain about your job, feel irritable with coworkers, and/or dread going into work? It’s not unusual to get down about your job once in awhile, but chronic, every-day dissatisfaction demands a closer look. Maybe it’s time to find out what is going on! My 4 tips for helping you be happier in your work are below—and they can help anyone. But first, it’s helpful to take time to figure out exactly what is going on. One of the most common symptoms of a quarter life crisis is job dissatisfaction. For example, it is common for people in their 20s and 30s to begin wondering if they are in the right job, even though it is one that they used to enjoy. It is also common to start having irrational doubts about your competency. Regardless of the reasons, there are things you can do to help. Before you start planning your exit strategy, explore these 4 ways to help you be happier in your work. 1. Tune into what you LIKE about the work you do. Remember what it was that you liked about ...

  Congratulations! You just graduated, and that’s a huge accomplishment. If you have a job lined up after graduation, that’s spectacular. You’re probably feeling a mix of emotions and trying to process it all. If you don’t, then that’s still spectacular. You’re also likely feeling a mix of emotions and trying to process it all. Society preaches that graduating seniors should have it all figured out by the time they walk across the stage, but it doesn’t happen that way for everyone. This can create a confusing, stressful, and exhausting mindset for a graduate just trying to figure out their life. Here’s what we recommend for the next few months if you just received your diploma, but you’re still finding your footing. 1. Maintain a positive mindset A job search can be a true test of confidence. If you’ve been job hunting your entire senior year without much luck, then you may be losing some momentum. However, it’s more important than ever to maintain a positive mindset. While it may ...

  Over the last few years of this pandemic, we all had a lot of alone time – time for isolation, for contemplation, for introspection. The slow-down allowed for folks to be alone with their thoughts without as many distractions. For some, there was also the added benefit of not being around societal pressures. This opened space for self-exploration to include authenticity to oneself and their experience without those social barriers. It is no surprise to me that in my clinical work I found that more people finally had space to consider and question their gender. Now, I want to name a few important things before delving deeper: Questioning your gender is not a shameful or bad thing. Gender has a long history of including more than cisgender/binary narratives. Questioning your gender does not automatically mean that you are not cisgender, rather it means you are intentionally exploring your authentic self. Understanding your identities (professional, sexual, etc) is a lifelong proces...

  Are you thinking about starting therapy? Not sure how to choose the right therapist? You may have questions about what it’s all about. People often want to know what therapy is really like and what to expect. In this post, we share 12 common questions that we receive at QLC. The following information will simplify the process of finding the right therapist for you. If you have additional questions, please contact us at QLC . 1. Why go to therapy when I can just get advice from friends and family? Leaning on friends and family certainly can be helpful. That said, therapists are professionally trained to help you explore and discuss your difficulties and develop solutions to your particular problems. They have expertise in helping you express and evaluate your feelings, focusing entirely on you without bringing their own needs into the mix. Psychotherapy is a treatment process that is often very useful in helping people cope with their problems. Meeting with a therapist provides ...

If you’re a parent of a quarterlifer, you may be looking at your son or daughter in distress. These 20- or 30-something Millennials and Gen Z-ers are at a pivotal point in their lives, and along with everything else going on, the last couple of years haven’t been easy on them. Yet, as much as you want to help, sometimes your actions may be making the situation worse (doesn’t every parent love to hear that!). In this blog, we’ll discuss the top 3 mistakes that parents of quarterlifers make and how you can redirect your energy and actions to actually improve their situation. 1. You offer too much help We all know these types of parents — and you might be one of them. Those that are overbearing and micromanaging. Of course, they mean well and want to help their child. It’s difficult to see your child struggling, and as a parent, you want to do anything you can to help them. However, now that your children are emerging adults, they’re developing independence and autonomy. This is the time ...

  Are you in your twenties or thirties and grieving the death of a loved one? If you are, you already know that this is a particularly difficult time of life to grieve the loss of someone you love. Grieving a loss as a young adult is challenging for several reasons: 1) Experiencing grief during the quarterlife phase of life is an “off-time” life event, meaning that it is not expected to occur during that phase of life. We do not expect that young adults will have to experience the death of a friend or sibling, so it’s a non-normative event. It is expected, however, that a quarterlifer would experience the death of a grandparent, and this expected event is called an “on-time” or normative event. Off-time events have been found to be harder to cope with because they often feel unjust and unexpected. Because grief during the quarterlife stage of life is non-normative, quarterlifers who are mourning are likely to feel alone because peers don’t share and understand their experience. 2) ...