我们都听说过中年危机，但未到中年，大部分人却经历了历时更长，破坏力更大的认知危机,这就是“中途职场危机”。

如果你感觉自己的人生像被封死了一样，没有更多的选择，即是职场危机的症状。连你自己都惊呆了，不找到接下来该做什么？如何判断选择的对错？甚至怎样才能确定到底想做什么？如何做出工作和人际关系上的选择与决定，到底从何下手？

在弄明白我是谁，价值观是什么，最重要的事是什么，自己热爱的是什么，生活之外到底需要什么以及能为家人和朋友做点什么以后，你才能够发现自己所想。花点时间来考虑一下与自己息息相关的这些事情对于做选择之前是个很好的开始。不妨展望一下自己的“理想生活”吧。

考虑一下从工作生活中自己想要什么。目前的工作什么是最重要的，是报酬？同事？还是工作氛围？那么你想要的工作生活平衡是什么样的呢？我们每个人在权衡（也就是说，假如一个礼拜上一天班就想得到一个六位数字的薪水是很难的），但是如果你对自己越了解的话，你做选择也就越简单了。假如金钱不是目的，自己又能立于不败之地，而自己又喜欢的工作又有了目标了，那又是什么让你止足不前呢？

假如你能从完全新鲜的，完全不同的工作中得到快乐的话，也不要急着一脚就迈进去。给自己的新职业搭建一个桥梁，跟你未来的老板或同事搭建好工作关系网。不要害怕做“白日梦”，现在的办公环境比以前要灵活多了，要让自己的思维跳出“朝九晚五”的思维习惯。

还有一个让许多职场新人挣扎追求的就是财富的问题。因此在工作之后考虑不同的策略问题是有用的。例如，你就准备待在家里靠存款过日子吗？还是尝试一下一些新的市场政策？像那些连三四个毕业生的工资就足够购买的合作抵押贷款，或者尝试别的政策。回到老话题，关键是这个阶段你要知道什么才是最重要的。

同样的，对于许多职场新人来说在理财方面可以不急，因为理财这个东西看起来太枯燥乏味了。提示：千万不要这样认为！你在二十多岁时存的钱可能比你在后半生所赚的总和回报都要高，因为它有更多的增值时间。假如公司没有企业养老金的话，自己购置一份吧，至少每年你都可以享用里面的免税ISA津贴。多从报纸上，网络上搜集一些金融信息或是订一份财务指南，这些都能教你省钱。

不要一味的模仿，跟从别人，而要关注于适合自己的方法。不然你就会陷入只是一味满足父母，朋友，同伴的期望或是追求时尚当中。但是真正做主的却是你自己，这不是教你自私，只是顺便充实一下你的潜能。

应对甚至说是避免职场危机的关键是对自己的生活有个规划。这就是说清楚自己的职业目标，明白自己追求的生活和生活模式，并知道要得到这种生活所采取的行动计划。如果这些听起来让你感觉很惊人的话，千万不要恐慌！你只需要更加有层次的去考虑这些问题，一切就更明了了。

总之，请记住，在最后的分析中，要发现自己梦想中所需要的生活，职业及未开发的潜力 ，朝着这些方向奋斗，这些都将属于你。

Handling your Quarterlife Crisis

by Jenny Ungle

Everyone has heard of the mid-life crisis. But years before we reach that stage, many of us go through an identity crisis that is just as debilitating and with potentially even more long-lasting consequences. Welcome to the “quarterlife crisis”. 

You’ve got your whole life in front of you, the world is your oyster, your choices are almost limitless – and that’s just the problem. You’re overwhelmed. What should you do with your life? How do you know you’re making the right decisions? How can you even be sure about what it is you really want to do? How do you wade your way through all the choices and decisions you have to make on everything from your career to your relationships and how do you get started? 

You can’t find out what you want until you find out who you are. What are your values? What’s most important to you? What are you passionate about? What do you really want out of life and how do you want your friends and family to remember you?  Taking the time to think about the things that really matter to you is a good starting point for making your choices. Try to visualise your “ideal life”.

Think about what you want from your working life. What are the most important aspects of your current job? Is it the money? Your work colleagues? The working environment? What kind of work-life balance do you want? All of us have to make trade-offs of some sort (in other words, it’s hard to earn a six-figure salary if you only want to work 1 day a week!), but the clearer you can be about what your priorities really are, the easier the choice will be. If money was no object, or you knew you couldn’t fail, what would you really love to have a go at? What’s holding you back? 

If you conclude that the only way you could be happy at work is to be doing something completely different, somewhere completely different, don’t jump straight in. Find a way of building a bridge to your new career. Network - find someone who might give you some work experience, or take you on part-time. And don’t be afraid to think imaginatively – the working environment is more flexible now than it has ever been, so allow yourself to think outside the “9 to 5” box. 

One area where many young professionals struggle is getting their foot on the property ladder. Again, it’s useful to sit back and think about different strategies here. For example, would you be prepared to live at home for longer to allow you to save a deposit? What about exploring some of the new options on the market where 3 or 4 graduates can purchase a joint mortgage based on their total salaries – giving them good buying power?      Again, it’s about trade-offs – what’s most important to you at this stage?

Similarly, money management is something that many young professionals tend to put off because it seems too dry or too daunting. The message is: don’t! Money that you save in your twenties will earn you a much higher return than anything you save later in life – because it has more time for growth. Think about a personal pension if you don’t have a company one; as a minimum, make sure you use your tax-free ISA allowance every year if you possibly can. Read the personal finance pages of newspapers, search the Internet, book an appointment with a financial adviser - do whatever it takes for you to get money-savvy.

Try to put less store by what other people think and focus on the approach that’s right for you. It’s very easy to get sucked into the trap of trying to meet other people’s expectations – parents, friends, your contemporaries or what the media dictate. But the only opinion that really matters is your own. And that’s not being selfish, by the way – it’s about fulfilling your potential. 

The key to handling – or even better, preventing – your quarterlife crisis is to have a strategy for your life. That means knowing where you want to go career-wise, what kind of life and lifestyle you want to have, and putting in place an action plan to get you there. If that sounds overwhelming, don’t panic! Just starting to think about some of these issues in a more structured way will give you greater clarity. 

Finally, remember that, in the final analysis, it’s your life, your career, and your unfulfilled potential if you don’t find and follow your dream. So go for it – you owe it to yourself. 

编译：katie