Following on from my blog last week about The Quarter Life Crisis, I have had so many comments about this resonating with you, that I wanted to share some more thoughts.
On the 17th of November 2016, I was invited by a company called Addo-Life to share my thoughts with Estée Lauder employees.
So picture this – I’m standing at the back of the room at Estée Lauder that is used for the training of make up artists, as the ladies ( & one man) start to enter the room. There is the usual chatter when 60 people who know each other get together, the room is full and Christiana (the founder of Addo Life) and Tami, begin the talk and invite the 1st speaker to the stage.
Dr. Oliver Robinson, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Greenwich’s School of Health & Social Care and his colleagues, share how he interviewed 50 people aged between 25 and 35 about their experiences of crises occurring in early adulthood.
Themes from the interviews were identified and developed into the model of the ‘quarter life crisis’ which follows a four phase structure similar to those described in literature on mid-life crises, but occurring much earlier.
- Phase 1. Feeling “locked in” to a job or relationship, or both.
- Phase 2. A growing sense that change is possible.
- Phase 3. A period of rebuilding a new life.
- Phase 4. The cementing of fresh commitments that reflect the young person’s new interests, aspirations and values.
Dr. Robinson claims that his research is the first to look at the Quarter Life Crisis phenomenon from a ‘solid, empirical angle based on data rather than speculation.’
The audience are quietly connected and they are engaged in his presentation, and I’m thinking about what the word empirical means! Dr. Oliver starts to give some tips about how to survive QLC including being kind to yourself and to get help from others, in the form of therapy or life coaching.
Then it’s my turn. In my presentation, I share my story about my “Mid-Life Crisis”, when I felt trapped by the work I was doing and by seeking help I was able to make some changes and so his words resonated with me. The room is laughing politely, though still guarded and quiet.
I share how my Find Your WHY! Programme helps others to become:
AWARE of who they are, where they are and WHY they are not reaching their potential
How once you know what you want you can set an INTENTION and then, of course, the missing ingredient
How to MANIFEST by moving your ass!
I confess life is like a routine, a bit like the 1st beauty routine I learned as a girl:-
CLEANSE – get rid of all the dirt & grime, even the stuff you can’t see
TONE – try to close the pores so that they don’t fill up again with muck! (yes, Yorkshire term)
MOISTURISE – nourish yourself, learn from others (a note here is people you know who are in the same place as you are not as effective as seeking help from someone out of that circle, mainly because they can be more subjective #justsaying)
After Anthony Ogunbowale-Thomas completed the presentation, with his take on Entrepreneurial skills in the workplace, we went into a Q&A with Christiana.
No questions from the audience? So, Christiana asks us some questions until one of the lovely audience members, asks a question from the floor.
“How will you know what is right or wrong for you?” and another question “What if you do all the check lists, you ask others for their opinion and it all looks great but then it fails?”
I realised that the ladies (& gent) in the room were just like my mentoring clients who, like me, are ordinary people with a desire to be extraordinary and whilst we are living in the information age and you can get information about WHAT to do, it is really more about HOW to do it.
At The Find Your WHY! Foundation we teach our WHY’s men & WHY’s Women how to get into ACTION to get traction, and so our results are EMPIRICAL (yes, I looked it up – we observe what is happening to our community every week not just for a survey! ) and we have the evidence to prove it – for example at week 5 of our 8 week on-line program 74% of our community went from feeling shit or bad, to 100% feeling from better to fab.
At this stage, I shared some practical ways to know if you were doing the right thing in your life , some muscle testing with Erin to show you can not always “think” your way out of a situation. And another lady joins in – ‘yes we did this at yoga it was amazing’… suddenly the room was busy again with enthusiasm. Dr. Oliver and Anthony were giving practical advise from their lives too, and with the allocated time coming to an end, there was a sense of connection between the whole room.
I left there very grateful and happy at the new connections made with Addo-Life, the speakers and the people from Estée Lauder.
Leaving the building I saw a beautiful piece of art that is called “Paradigm Exploded”
Today, we explored a new concept of the Quarter Life Crisis, #QLC, and I can see that Estée Lauder are continuing with their founders philosophy. Mrs. Lauder was a woman armed with the drive to work hard, the determination to succeed and a passion for beauty. And succeed she did – transforming beauty into big business, which she did by breaking down the barriers in front of her.
I can see her legacy lives on in new developments without losing the attitude of caring about their people, and helping them be the best they can be, on the outside and the inside.
That is WHY I believe that AWARENESS of self is key, if you want to turn a Quarter Life Crisis into a Quarter Life Opportunity
To begin you need to first go within