Mythical Millennial #19: shimmy shimmy quarter life crisis

Readers, the last time we spoke, I was a 23-year-old. Now that the party’s over, I speak to you now at age 24, having just read that the Evening Standard reckons people’s life satisfaction peaks at age 23. Well, should have enjoyed that while it lasted.

My self-prescribed quarter life crisis have been scoffed at by most. “Pah, you’re so young! What worries could you have?” Jokes aside, a deeper dive into generation twenties’ feelings ofinadequacy, confusion and loneliness seem to indicate that yes, having a quarter life crisis is in fact, a real thing.

According to a survey by Gumtree.com, 86 per cent of the young people surveyed admitted feeling under pressure to succeed in their relationships, finances, and jobs before the age of 30. Two in five of those questioned had money worries on the mind. 32 per cent felt a deep pressure to settle down and have children before the age of 30. 21 per cent of the participants were thinking of a radical career change.

Seems pretty grim. Thankfully, this particular cloud has a silver lining. According to Dr Oliver Robinson, a researcher at the University of Greenwich, quarter life crises can be good for you. Half of people who go through crises say their lives become better as a result of the changes they make in response. Well doc, this confused, slightly older millennial sure hopes you’re right.

Have you jumped on the ‘Millennial Pink’ bandwagon? If you haven’t noticed this not-quite-Barbie-kinda-salmon-maybe-a-little-peach-colour pop up, then you probably haven’t been on Instagram since 2014.

The Strategist has dubbed this colour ‘millennial pink’ for its “capacity to define a generation with its perfect balance of serious and frivolous.” And define us it has — the colour can be found anywhere from Rihanna’s Fenty line to Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel. Colours come and go. Pantone can try to push colour of the year ‘Greenery’ all they want. But like Gretchen Wieners’ ‘fetch’ misstep, they just can’t make Greenery happen. On the other hand, millennial pink has dug its claws into our consciousness, and has adamantly refused to let go.

One theory about the colour hypothesises that millennial pink’s explosion in popularity is to do with its links to androgyny. Pink isn’t just for girls anymore. In fact, with 50 per cent of millennials believing that gender runs on a spectrum, pink has become its new ‘eff you, convention’ colour mascot. If that’s the case, bring on the rose quartz wallpaper, cos’ I’m going all in on this trend.

The harmonies in this will make the hairs on your arms stand on end.
Faithless by Flyte

I’ve been absolutely fascinated by the rise of digital challenger bank, Monzo. New Statesman digital culture writer Amelia Tait wrote an excellent piece a while back on how it could potentiallyleave traditional banks in the dust. Certainly, as I track my spending with an app that gives me so much transparency on my habits it sometimes hurts — I’m inclined to agree with her.

One story about Monzo that has stuck with me lately? The one about how they turned an all-day outage into a masterclass in public relations and customer service. Econsultancy’s Ben Davis suggests Monzo’s failure that day was an example of how to ‘fail in a good way’. Santander, take note.

See you in two weeks,
B x

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Originally published on Mythical Millennial.