A complete list of every single personal crisis you will encounter in your life

Recent research has found that the age at which you’re most likely to descend into a screaming, red-faced quarter-life crisis is 26 years and nine months, which is altogether rather young, isn’t it? Scary, to already be having an actual ‘crisis’ at that age - people normally save that kind of stuff until they’re about 50, right?

Ha! No, obviously not! We’re always having crises, all the time, every year - it’s just that some are bigger and maybe a bit more important (or louder) than the others. They’re certainly all pretty vital in their own way, and surely a common threat in all of our lives, for our time on this earth is not plain sailing - the machinations of this planet will make sure that you’re never too happy for too long, that’s a guarantee. Contentment is a pipe-dream; anxious hair-pulling a reality. Deal with the proverbial ‘it’.

As such, to share the pain, I felt it essential to list every single crisis that will befall you in each of your precious years. Let us revel in the suffering together:

Age 1: The “Literally what the hell is that and oh god what on earth and that thing is massive and why is there air coming out of every hole in my body” crisis

Age 2: The “I do not have complete control over my body and it is worrying me, will I ever be able to walk properly like all the big giants” crisis

Age 3: The “Is everyone genuinely laughing at the jokes I have made up or is it all fake, is everything fake” crisis

Age 4: The “Everything is absolutely great at the moment, like, really really great and I feel that there must be something just around the corner that is going to come along and ruin this blissful status quo” crisis

Age 5: The “Oh it’s this, this is what ruins everything, my First Day Of School” crisis

Age 6: The “I told you if you did it again I would have to call your parents and now I am, also your name’s going in The Green Book” crisis

Age 7: The “Exams already? Actual exams already? I am seven for fuck’s sake” crisis

Age 8: The “I still have not done a poo in the school toilets yet because of all the germs and holding it in all day is going to cause me physical problems in old age” crisis

Age 9: The “This Sports Day is supposed to be fun but the immense pressure to win all my events is becoming too much to bear, is this a good indicator of what life has in store for me, is everything just one big giant competition” crisis

Age 10: The “Oh exams again? You do realise I am still a child? And I’m also starting a new school, a big boy school for big boys? I cannot cope with this unfathomable pressure on my young, frail shell” crisis

Age 11: The “My arms are definitely too long for all my sleeves and I look like Lurch from The Addams Family, it is not a good look, not even with a skateboard” crisis

Age 12: The “Oh actually I thought this school disco would be a laugh but actually it’s a segregated wasteland of rejection” crisis

Age 13: The “Boners boners everywhere” crisis

Age 14: The “My skin is actually disgusting and nobody will ever fancy me with these pulsing nodules of slime all over my face, my actual face, the most visible part of my body, wow” crisis

Age 15: The “GCSEs are here now and my life is over for half a year, if only I knew that they didn’t really matter a fucking jot in the long run” crisis

Age 16: The “AS Levels don’t really matter either but they’re still extremely stressful especially when added to the fact that I am still very obviously a massive virgin” crisis

Age 17: The “I think A-Levels actually do matter if I want to get into uni, so I should really try hard on these but also I can sneak into pubs now, so” crisis

Age 18: The “I was sick on my first night at uni and now everyone 100% thinks I’m an arsehole, will I ever shake off this reputation, I doubt I will, even into my thirties” crisis

Age 19: The “Oh dear I have picked the wrong course haven’t I, but as I will come to learn, it is too late” crisis

Age 20: The “I am only eating pasta, that’s it, just pasta, sometimes without even sauce, I am finding it hard to breathe, I should join a gym” crisis

Age 21: The “I spent £250 on a gym membership this time last year and have been only once, what an abhorrent waste of money, I am a fraud, a fraud with a heart encased in thick layer of brown fat, I am dying” crisis

Age 22: The “Will everyone discover that I am a fake soon, that I don’t actually like good things, that I don’t understand politics, that I couldn’t point to over half the countries in the world on a map, that I don’t know what most words that I use actually mean” crisis

Age 23: The “I am fresh out of uni and I can look you dead in the eye and tell you I have no idea what I’m fucking doing” crisis

Age 24: The “Oh, rent is a thing, is it? I have to pay to live somewhere, do I? Ouch, this hurts, why does my neck feel so tight” crisis

Age 25: The “I still have not done a poo in the office toilets yet because of all the germs and holding it in all day is going to cause physical problems in old age” crisis

Age 26: QUARTER-LIFE CRISIS

Age 27: The “I should have gone travelling, oh well too late now I guess, besides I’m earning an OK wedge and that’s all that really matters doesn’t it? Happiness is certainly not a factor I should be taking into account no sireeeeeee bob” crisis

Age 28: The “Sweet, all my friends are way more successful than me and they will be forever unless I invent something, better invent something” crisis

Age 29: The “I have one year left of my twenties and I have nothing to show for it” crisis

Age 30: The “I AM ACTUALLY 30” crisis

Age 31: The “I AM ACTUALLY 31 AND THAT IS SOMEHOW TWICE AS WORSE AS BEING 30” crisis

Age 32: The “Uh oh, I think I’m having a child and I have even less idea what I’m doing than when I was 23, I have somehow devolved” crisis

Age 33: The “I definitely shouldn’t have got blackout drunk on Friday and fallen asleep with kebab all down my front on the night tube because I am no longer 18, also I found a grey hair” crisis

Age 34: The “I SQUANDERED MY TWENTIES DIDN’T I AND NOW I CAN’T GO BACK” crisis

Age 35: The “Am I too old to go to clubs now, does everyone think I’m a dad” crisis

Age 36: The “Do I or do I not get a tattoo, I feel like I should really get a tattoo” crisis

Age 37: The “Why oh why did I get a massive tribal tattoo on my chest, oh the aching regret, the pain, the shame” crisis

Age 38: The “So that invention I came up with when I was 28 never came to fruition and I wasted ten years developing it, I guess wristwatches for dogs have no place in the market” crisis

Age 39: The “I have one year left of my thirties and all I have to show for it is a cat” crisis

Age 40: The “I AM ACTUALLY 40” crisis

Age 41: The “I AM ACTUALLY 41 AND THAT IS SOMEHOW TWICE AS WORSE AS BEING 40” crisis

Age 42: The “I’ve just realised that this t-shirt I’ve been wearing all day, was bought when I was 24, I should not be wearing this, OH GOD actually I haven’t bought anything new in at least seven years, I dress like a child” crisis

Age 43: The “My son is a dickhead, get him away from me” crisis

Age 44: The “Oh no! We’re having another child” crisis

Age 45: The “I am only eating chips, that’s it, just chips, sometimes without even sauce, I am finding it hard to breathe, I should join a gym” crisis

Age 46: The “I spent £250 on a gym membership this time last year and have been only once, what an abhorrent waste of money, I am a fraud, a fraud with a heart encased in thick layer of brown fat, I am dying, again” crisis

Age 47: The “I thought my hairline would survive, I really did, I’m surprised it got this far if I’m honest” crisis

Age 48: The “Ten years ago to this day I got that fucking tattoo and it’s ruined my life, genuinely” crisis

Age 49: The “Shouldn’t I have had a mid-life crisis by now? Why haven’t I had a mid-life crisis? What is wrong with me” crisis

Age 50: MID-LIFE crisis

Age 51: The “Let’s really stretch out this MID-LIFE crisis, make it really obvious to everyone that I am having one, better quickly buy something really expensive and stupid” crisis

Age 52: The “Yeah, I certainly cannot afford this giant quad bike that I’ve just bought, why did I buy this, I don’t even have anywhere to drive it” crisis

Age 53: The “I found somewhere to drive the quad bike, but fell off and broke my ankle, I now can’t walk for sixth months, great” crisis

Age 54: The “I have a written-off, unsellable quad bike in my garage and I hate it” crisis

Age 55: The “Bought a jet-ski instead and smacked my back on the side of the jetty, hospital again” crisis

Age 56: The “This toupée was a mistake” crisis

Age 57: The “I’ve just been told that standing legs apart, with just my thumbs in my pockets is not a good look, but I’ve been doing it really aggressively for seven years” crisis

Age 58: The “I might start painting, actually, fruit, mainly” crisis

Age 59: The “Oh the garden is looking a bit funky, better pour something on it” crisis

Age 60: The “It turns out that 60 isn’t the new 20, and I think my earlobes are getting bigger” crisis

Age 61: The “More space for earrings though, shame one of the holes has gone septic” crisis

Age 62: The “I am going to dash this cocking PC through the window in a minute because it makes no sense to me and I truly despise it” crisis

Age 63: The “I urgently need to restore an old car immediately” crisis

Age 64: The “I am currently waging a one-man-war on the squirrel that lives in my back garden and I’d appreciate it if you butt out” crisis

Age 65: The “All that holding in of poos has had ramifications, hasn’t it” crisis

Age 66: The “Hmmmm, this is my neck now is it” crisis

Age 67: The “No boners boners anywhere” crisis

Age 68: The “WHO THE FUCK IS THAT AT THE DOOR” crisis

Age 69: The “What’s a fidget spinner, I don’t know what all these things are, what’s a meme” crisis

Age 70: The “Actually, you know what, I’m pretty content now, might just relax in all honesty, fuck the haters, let’s go sailing” non-crisis

(Images: iStock/Rex)