Quarter-life crisis. If you’re morbid you could still call it a half-life crisis.
My dad is getting older. He retired five years ago, and I blame a good chunk on that. At around the year 3 mark is when I noticed some changes compared to image of my father. It hurts to see that every six months the hair gets a little whiter. His temper gets a little bit worse. He misses more and more highway exits he’s known for 30 years, and he chuckles to himself, but I don’t laugh with him.
One reason I have drastically improved my Mandarin the last few years is because of him. His communication skills are getting worse, English included, so sometimes it’s marginally easier to speak Chinese. Though the overall downward trend is still there.
I often tell him he needs to do something out of the house, besides doomscrolling and daytrading stocks. Go work at Costco! You love Costco and they have health insurance! Or if it’s not about the money, go volunteer at our church. But he brushes it off.
This is often one criticism I have of early retirement. I strongly support financial independence, not so much complete retirement. You have to do something 1) intellectually stimulating and productive 2) social, or you will decay both physically and mentally (by the way, daytrading could be intellectually stimulating, but not the way he does it 🙂).
His mom, my grandma, actually lives with him. She’s now 103 years old, though she understandably doesn’t have proof after fleeing China. She’s insanely fit and probably has a good 10 more years still, and overall quite a force of nature.
He says it’s quite stressful and he worries about her a good amount (part of why he’s not out of the house. So he can watch her), and just physically taking care of her takes a mental toll. He wishes she wasn’t so stubborn, would listen more, is more cognizant of her age. I don’t know if he sees the parallels with what I tell him.
I have a lot of friends moving/wanting to move to New York. But I also have met numerous people who just moved from New York.
Some of my friends just went back to school. The word “MBA” gets tossed around a lot. But other friends just graduated, having obtained a PhD.
Some people are getting married. Some break a multi-year relationship.
I do think it’s important to be a bit more intentional with one’s actions. It’s important to have new experiences. It is important to put some serious thought into your location and environment.