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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
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English
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QUARTERLIFE

Satya Doyle Byock

The Timeless Pursuit of Stability and Meaning

Popular psychotherapist Satya Doyle Byock, devoted to counseling young adults in their twenties and thirties, identifies the unique difficulties of this stage of life and offers a roadmap toward joy, meaning, and clarity.
QUARTERLIFE explores issues that occur during a turbulent phase in life, when the roadmap to success and happiness seemingly abruptly ends and the path leads to security and fulfilled adulthood feels out of reach and solutions being offered frequently result in even more chaos and stress. Here, Byock offers people in this stage of life (she calls Quarterlifers) the tools to listen to what they know instinctually and to balance their need for stability with their quest for meaning.

What's wrong with me? I feel so stuck. Is this all there is? Satya Doyle Byock hears these refrains regularly in her psychotherapy practice, Quarterlife Counseling, where she works exclusively with individuals between the ages of eighteen to thirty-five. She understands their frustration. Some clients have done "everything right" - earn a degree, get a job, meet a partner, settle down. Yet, even after checking the boxes, many are left unfulfilled, unclear, unhappy and don't know how to approach what to do next and others are uninterested in following this prescribed path, but feel unmoored as a result.

And while society is quick to label these emotions as traits of generations like Millennials or Gen Z, or offer diagnoses and prescriptions to alleviate these feelings, Byock approaches these issues differently. She believes these struggles are a natural part of the developmental journey of Quarterlife, a distinct stage of life, like adolescence or midlife, that every person goes through, but has been virtually ignored by popular culture and psychology.

In QUARTERLIFE, Byock utilizes her twenty years of experience to help Quarterlifers and those who love them better understand this unique phase of life. Using personal storytelling, mythology, pop culture, literature, and history, with references ranging from Rilke to Harry Potter, the author introduces us to the two primary types of Quarterlifers, as well as the four stages of the Quarterlife development, providing context and practices to help orient readers along their own journeys. She employs composite case studies, inspired by her clients to illustrate the Quarterlife journey, and offers hands-on tools and practices throughout the book to help readers find themselves within this developmental stage and implement her lessons.

Satya Doyle Byock MA, LPC is the owner and founder of Quarter-Life Counseling and a psychotherapist in private practice in Portland, Oregon. She teaches and writes on topics related to coming of age and Jungian psychology. Her writing has appeared in Psychological Perspectives, The Hairpin, Utne Reader, and elsewhere, including Goop, where her well-received essay that is the root of this new book "Why Millennials Can't Just 'Grow Up'" was published in 2016. Her essay "Gone Astray" received a notable mention in The Best American Essays.
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Book

Published 2022-07-26 by Random House

Book

Published 2022-07-26 by Random House

Comments

Absent the structured rites of passage that enabled our ancestors to emerge from childhood into adulthood, how is a young person supposed to grow up today?... Quarterlife is a valuable guide to the perplexed in those seas. Filled with illustrative examples, Byock provides multiple tips, clues, and guidance for those who otherwise feel alone.

Satya and QUARTERLIFE were featured in a piece for New York Times WELL section exploring mental health in young adults and the "quarterlife crisis" Read more...

The concept of a midlife crisis is well documented, but what about the weird, confusing life changes that happen during quarterlife (between the ages of roughly 16 to 36)? In her fascinating new book, psychotherapist Doyle Byock provides a guide to those quarterlifers on how to navigate and thrive - rather than just survive - these odd years.

Chinese (complex): Heliopolis Culture Group ; French: Groupe Homme ; Korean: Will Books ; Vietnamese: Phuong Nam Book Co.

I loved this book more than I can say! Quarterlife is an insightful, revealing look at the messy and uncharted paths to wholeness, and a powerful tool for anyone navigating early adulthood. This is the book I wish I'd had and one that I will gift again and again. Byock has written both a groundbreaking guide and an intimate invitation to understanding that is destined to be an instant classic.

Absent the structured rites of passage that enabled our ancestors to emerge from childhood into adulthood, how is a young person supposed to grow up today? . Quarterlife is a valuable guide to the perplexed in those seas. Filled with illustrative examples, Byock provides multiple tips, clues, and guidance for those who otherwise feel alone

The years between adolescence and middle age are arguably the most formative in one's life, and yet so many young people spend them dissatisfied, confused, and unmoored. Quarterlife makes sense of this period and offers a roadmap for finding both meaning and stability on the path toward maturity. If you're a young adult looking for a way through, or if you're seeking to understand the struggles of young adults, you must read this timely and illuminating book.

We talk about the cultural hazing cycle, young adults' devotion to parental expectations, and the importance of developing our discernment muscle. So whether you are a young adult, or are simply seeking to understand the struggles of a generation, I hope our conversation leaves you eager to explore the ever-evolving balance between stability and meaning. Read more...

Satya discussed the book on "All of It" on WNYC and took questions from callers! Read more...

Perceptive debut... young adults will appreciate Byock's compassionate articulation of Quarterlife's challenges.

For decades now, there's been a crisis - psychological, existential - among America's young adults, one that has been hiding in plain sight.I know of no one better to address it than Satya Doyle Byock,who has made attending to this age group her life's work. Quarterlife is compassionate, specific, forceful, lucid, and very wise. It is the book a lot of people have been waiting for, whether they know it or not.

I'm obsessed with this book. If you're a younger Millennial, or a Gen Z-er, and trying to figure out why do I feel this way, why can't I be satisfied, why do I always feel like I'm behind or rudderless - this is the book for you.