"The quarterlife crisis is a period of life following the major changes of adolescence, usually ranging from the late teens to the early thirties, in which a person begins to feel doubtful about their own lives, brought on by the stress of becoming an adult. The term was coined by analogy with mid-life crisis." - Wikipedia (where else?)

On a daily basis, I find myself questioning my purpose as an adult in this society.  What can I do to make things better for the world?  For my peers?  For myself?  Most of all, is it normal to feel this lost in society?

I grew up in a small preparatory school with a relatively limited amount of peers.  Almost all of us stayed together from grade to grade, lower school to middle school to high school.  College was a shock for us all I think - being separated from the same sense of comfort we all shared for so many years (disregarding the select few who just could not wait to get away from it, and to this day will tell you how miserable they truly were).  Despite the connections I've made along the way, I still regard my preparatory friends as my lifelong companions; no one I meet in my adult life will ever know me as well as they do.

Immersed in prep school life, most parents/teachers/school superiors encouraged us to figure out our career paths at a very young age (aside: perhaps encourage is not a strong enough word; lets try pressured).  With a curriculum bolstering well-rounded, self-sufficient adolescents, some found their calling early.  I can still name each one of my friends that knew exactly what they wanted to do from the 3rd grade, followed through with it and are enjoying their successful careers right now.  I never realized how envious I was of these individuals until I got older, left school and didn't have a crap of an idea of what to do with my life.

Grad school always seems like a good idea to those who are a little lost - whats the harm in buying yourself more time, and isn't education the best way to do it?  Absolutely, until you graduate and then start having daily panic attacks because you've pigeon-holed yourself into a career that (1) doesn't make you happy and (2) you can't get a job in anyway since the economy sucks so bad.

So enter the quarter-life crisis:  in essence, a realization that, while one may know that they're not right for their current career, one has no friggin clue what direction one should take.

Maybe unemployment is to blame for these thoughts and feelings.  Maybe regret for not following through with my childhood dream of becoming a veterinarian.  Maybe I'm just the type of person that wakes up every morning wanting to do something different, and that's just the way it is.

Is this normal?