Quarterlife: The Search for Self in Early Adulthood

"What's wrong with me? I feel so stuck. Is this all there is? Satya Doyle Byock hears these refrains regularly in her psychotherapy practice, Quarterlife Counseling, where she works exclusively with individuals between the ages of eighteen to thirty-five. She understands their frustration. Some clients have seemingly done everything "right": earn a degree, get a job, meet a partner, settle down. Yet, even after checking these boxes, they are left unfulfilled and unclear on what to do next. Others are uninterested in following this prescribed path, but often feel unmoored as a result. And while society is quick to label these emotions as traits of generations like Millennials or Gen Z, or offer diagnoses and prescriptions to get rid of these feelings, Byock sees it differently. She believes these struggles are a natural part of the developmental journey of Quarterlife, a distinct stage of life, like adolescence or midlife, that every person goes through, but has been virtually ignored by popular culture and psychology. In Quarterlife, Byock utilizes her twenty years of experience to help Quarterlifers and those who love them better understand this unique phase of life. Using personal storytelling, mythology, pop culture, literature, and history, with references ranging from Rilke to Harry Potter, Doyle introduces us to the two primary types of Quarterlifers, as well as the four stages of the Quarterlife development, providing context and practices to help orient readers along their own journeys"--