Still alive at 25

Tired of his stable 9-to-5 job and restless with where his life is going, a 40-year-old leaves his home and wife. He plans a trip around the world and builds a log cabin in the country. And he buys a red sports car.\nThis is the stereotypical, clichéd midlife crisis.\nAn abundance of stability coupled with a milestone in age leads to what society has labeled a midlife crisis.\nExactly the opposite is true for many 20-somethings.\nWe're facing an entirely different stage of our lives, and the problem is a lack of stability and certainty.\nWill we get the job we want? Is this the person we want to spend our life with? Will we meet our family's expectations? Is it OK to "settle" on an outcome short of your dreams?\nThese questions aren't new. They show up in late-night conversations at Steak n' Shake, on long road trips and in the fleeting moments before you nod off in class. They reveal themselves when the usual distractions are nowhere to be found.\nNow, the questions and uncertainty have a name.\nAlexandra Robbins and Abby Wilner, both in their 20s, wrote Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in Your Twenties. (Tarcher/Putnam, $14.95). They also manage the Web site www.quarterlifecrisis.com.\nQuarterlife crises affect students who will soon graduate or recently graduated from college. \nBesides the pressures that have faced 20-somethings for years, it deals with the unique and new challenges our generation faces. That includes expensive education loans, a bad economy and the reality that over our careers we will work for significantly more employers than our parents.\nNeither midlife nor quarterlife necessarily bring crisis.\nThis is especially true for many college students who are enjoying a "childhood extension" of sorts, a delay from the inevitable pressures of career and family.\nBut when the pressure finally hits, it can hit hard.\nDeborah Fravel, a human development and family studies professor, gives her class some simple advice when the topic comes up. She also shares the personal experience of her 25th birthday.\n"I got up that morning and realized I was a quarter of a century old," she says. "That was the most difficult birthday of my life."\nFravel tells her students they're not the only ones facing the pressures associated with quarterlife crisis.\n"Give yourself a break," Fravel says. "Look around and take stock of where you are."\nThat could decide whether it becomes a "crisis" or just a smooth transition between phases in life.\nEither way, it's nice to have a "crisis" all to ourselves, since we're far from 40, don't have our own families to abandon and certainly don't need a log cabin in the country.\nBut the red sports car?\nSome things don't change with age.