work hard to stay connected to his body and build healthy routines.

Peter Jacobsen, whose 1880 novel, Niels Lyhne,

The ladder of vertical achievements that the dominant culture raises Quarterlifers to climb leads into the ether. It’s

He didn’t need to just shove those feelings away and cope, find substances to make it better, or try harder and harder to adapt to the very environment or relationships that were causing him pain.

She was incredibly resilient and had learned how to survive and thrive in her own way without tending to healing her trauma. But often the resilience that carries a person through childhood can start to wane in Quarterlife, when our natural defenses start to wear down and all sorts of previously buried symptoms begin to emerge.

bit of their ability to adapt to human society and submit instead to their own buried desires and needs. If they don’t actively pursue this rebalancing with other ways of being, a breakdown or reckoning is almost inevitable—one that could destroy the stability they worked hard to create.

Supporting Grace to incorporate more stability and security in her life would be the key to building a sustainable adulthood.

had burst when he was still in college and fully able to course-correct.

Conner needed to surrender control, to stop his ascent and come back down to earth where he could safely live. This sacrifice of the life he had spent so much time focusing on would require learning about the other side of life, trusting in