Quart de vie: La quête de soi au tournant de l'âge adulte

by Satya Doyle Byock

Vous commencez votre vie d'adulte mais éprouvez un sentiment d'insignifiance ou d'inachèvement?

cette impression est courante chez les personnes qui – de 18 à 35 ans – passent le cap du «quart de vie». Que vous ayez coché toutes les cases (obtenir un diplôme, trouver un emploi, rencontrer un partenaire, s'installer) ou refusé de suivre ce chemin tout tracé, le sentiment de vide qui vous habite vous laisse souvent impuissant, désarmé.

Selon Satya Doyle Byock, ces quelques années qui séparent l'adolescence de la quarantaine constituent bel et bien une étape distincte de l'existence, pratiquement ignorée par la culture populaire et la psychologie. En faisant tour à tour appel à des témoignages, à la mythologie, à la psychologie jungienne et à la culture pop, l'autrice vous propose des repères pour gagner en indépendance, écouter vos besoins et construire la vie que vous souhaitez.

Grâce à ses conseils éclairants, faites de votre propre «quart de vie» une période signifiante et retrouvez le sentiment de plénitude auquel vous aspirez.

Avec tout le chaos et la confusion de l'ère post-pandémique, les jeunes adultes qui ont du mal à avancer et recherchent réconfort et conseils feraient bien de lire ce livre.
– New York Post

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Psychology, Mental Health, Audiobook, Personal Development, Personal Growth

257 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 19, 2023

Reviews

[Margarita · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the concept but overall wished there was more advice on how to implement the four pillars that are core to the author's framework for navigating Quarterlife.

[Zoë Soriano · Rating 5 out of 5]

i DEVOURED this book… most self help books are honestly stupid but this one really showed me what i needed to work on and why there’s disconnect in my life.

I relayed most to Grace and Mira; I feel like I started as a Stability type and then dove toooo deep into meaning and lost my stability. After reading this, I practiced the “current self” vs “ideal self” chart that Mira did, and I really saw the areas of my life that weren’t aligning with who I want to be.

I would recommend this book to ALL my friends who are in quarterlife (18 - 35 years old).

[Kate Walsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

It didn’t solve all my problems so. Sorry, 3 stars.

[pooja · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were multiple moments throughout this book when I had to put it down and take a deep breath. I burst into tears at two points because I felt so seen, heard, and validated. Like a huge weight had been lifted off my chest. Like I could breathe easier.

As a twenty-something who has just quit her job and moved countries, these past few months have been full of painful changes. Since graduation, I've spent most of my time pondering "Is this all?" and "What am I doing here?" It's been hard to communicate this itch for something more meaningful. Like the life I wanted to live was so different from the one I was living, and I felt stuck in a rut, unable to find my way out. I know that meaning doesn't just exist out there and has to be actively created, but it's so hard to know where to begin and how to keep going especially in a culture that expects you to have it all figured out, and then shuns you if you fail to tick the boxes of adulthood (whatever the hell that means!)

I loved this book for many reasons, and I am going to write a more in-depth review after my second reading but here are some of my intitial thoughts:

- Satya Doyle Byock's distinction between Stability and Meaning types is so helpful and makes so much sense. I was instantly able to recognise my patterns of thought & behaviour. I'm more of a Meaning Type. I want to learn and experience and feel as many things as possible - I feel like one life is not enough because I want it all. But despite this ache, this longing, I tend to shelf my dreams and dismiss my ideas because of the lack of a clear path or structure to see them through.

- I feel a dissonance between my inner and outer worlds at times. I feel the urge to follow cultural scripts and to prioritise pursuing stability over meaning. To paraphrase an annoying relative's unsoliticed advice: Focus on earning lots of money in your twenties so you can pursue your passions in your forties!!! OK. In this climate & economy? I don't think I'm alone in this struggle of finding meaningful work that also offers some financial and psychology security & stability.

- Satya Doyle Byock offers no quick-fixes (surprise: there aren't any!) nor any prepackaged solutions to the problems we Quarterlifers experience. Instead, the four pillars outlined in the book - Separate, Listen, Build, and Integrate - offer a useful, practical framework to reflect, listen, and cultivate a life that feels joyful, fulfilling, and filled with purpose. You don't arrive at answers about meaning and purspose, but you can create meaningul through paying close attention to feeling & experiences that move, shape, change you. Even if they make little sense to others, they make sense to you and that's ultimately what matters.

- Things I want to explore in more detail: embodied healing. Taking care of my body and listening to her needs. Trusting my journey and decisions even when I don't have a clear idea of the outcomes. Learning to surrender to the process, letting life unravel, while also doing the necessary work of honoring my dreams and my community.

It will take a lifetime of practice, failing, making mistakes, reflecting, learning, growing. But god, I am so excited (and scared) to encounter everything out there & within myself.

Thank you, Satya! Also, I will be reading more of Jung's works!

[Hannah Landry · Rating 2 out of 5]

My god this was disappointing. I was so excited to read this and the beginning of the book had me really invested. But then she completely changes tracks to use her client stories to apparently “make her point”….it ended up feeling lazy, surface level and benign. It had such potential and it was squandered walking step-by-step through her interactions with clients, which offered little to no deeper insight on experiences. I also found myself annoyed multiple times by her writing style, I’m not sure what the best way to explain it is, but maybe trying too hard to covertly push she’s a trained psychotherapist?

I think she has it in her to write something amazing, like I said the first few chapters piqued my interest, but it almost felt like a cop-out to use the client stories as a way to fill the bulk of the book.

Would not be one of my recommendations. Way better books about similar topics.

The covers cool though lol

[Annie V. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one overpromised and underdelivered for me. The fictionalized client device really didn’t work for me nor did it meet my expectation of what was marketed as more of a practical guide. What little meat there was got lost in what otherwise read like a therapist’s back-patting fan fiction about their own idealized successful client relationships. Here are some typical passages: “I waited a bit before I asked Conner to rejoin me a little more fully by prompting him to notice his sensations again” and “Conner knew me well enough now to know what I meant with just one word. I had worked to normalize his pain and confusion, to teach him about self-care, to de-pathologize every psychological symptom he experienced, and to emphasize the reality of transitions and transformation…”

[Ashley Marilynne Wong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a total gem. So glad I found it when I needed it most. Absolutely beautifully written and affirmative.

[Madison Hoffmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who loooves psychology, I adored the format of this book. Byock pulls from four of her clients to model different types of ‘Quarterlifers’ to help bring this concept to life. I think every reader can resonate with at least one (if not a couple) of the clients, making the information easy to digest and to envision. Most importantly, it makes it possible for readers to pull actionable, real-life insight from the book.
If you’re looking for for a step by step guide on how to sort through your Quarterlife stage, you’re not going to find it here. I’m not ashamed to admit that I was, indeed, hoping for that when I started reading, so I was a bit disappointed. That being said, a prominent concept of this book is that this life stage is SO individualized and unique to each person, so there ISN’T a set playbook that works for everyone, thus it makes sense that it was missing from the book. I still found helpful insight and ideas to incorporate into my own life, but I was originally anticipating more of a self help book than a psychological analysis, so that impacted my review/experience reading this book.
Overall, this is still a very digestible and great read for my fellow Quarterlifers doing a bit of soul searching. This book won’t give you the exact answers you’re looking for, but it’ll help you brainstorm your own plan of action. Reading this helped me feel a little bit more compassionate towards myself in this stage of life, and that’s one of the best gifts a book has given me in awhile.

[maria 🌥️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

as a quarterlifer myself, it felt wonderful being validated in this mess called life. definitely recommend for those who have been questioning their 20s and would want some guidance or ways to begin there self journeys. love how you can tell that the author had genuine care for her clients and wasn’t just using there pain for the plot of the book which i usually find in other psychology books. overall, super grateful that i was able to get an ARC for this book and can’t wait to recommend in my store.

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so important to me, and I'm so glad I stumbled upon it at the bookstore. I had been having a rough few months dealing with anxiety and various existential crises, but reading this book made me feel like I was going to be okay. There were so many passages in the book that described feelings and thoughts that I had but didn't know how to express. It made me feel less alone, and it gave me a framework to understand my feelings.

I'm still figuring things out, but at least now I have the language to explain what I'm struggling with and what I'm working toward (i.e. finding the right balance of stability and meaning for myself). I'm grateful this book exists! I'd recommend it to anyone who feels lost or stuck in life and wants to know they aren't alone in their struggles.

[Ryan Brady · Rating 1 out of 5]

Now I don’t say this lightly, but this is quite honestly the worst book I’ve ever read.

Never in my life had I ever pre-ordered a book, but after I recently read an article which referenced the upcoming release date of ‘Quarterlife’; I was genuinely really excited to start this book and from reading the various reviews and snippets before its release. I was so engrossed in seeing what subjects the book would delve into as well as reflecting on my own life.

The book is just a wordy over complicated series of fake case studies that are completely uninteresting and boring.

Sentences will just go on and on leaving you completely confused as to what the point Doyle was going to make…

It felt like she’s written a book with a series of quotes that she finds hilariously interesting in which she hopes people slap across Instagram using pastel colours and simple text.

She also references in the first or second chapter, how she’s not going to talk about the pandemic due to her, “wanting the book to be a timeless reference”.

Why on earth would you not reference one of the most traumatic experiences the human race ever faced and which completely displaced the age group of 20 to 40-year-olds? Then in the next sentence, she starts talking about 9/11 and the economic market crash in 2008???

I was completely perplexed and found myself putting the book onto my lap and saying “what the f.. is she on about?”.

This book had the potential to be a really insightful and well constructed for people who feel lost in their life - Instead, she’s just written a self-indulgent, and honestly quite patronising book, but just witters on for page after page page about an interesting anecdotes.

She also finally claims that people in their 20 to 40-year-olds are underrepresented which is completely not the case…

Taylor Swift who currently is at the height of her stardom referencing things have happened to her in her 20s, shows like The Bear also touch and subjects about what it’s like to be lost as a 30-year-olds stuck in a rut and how difficult it is growing up and being a ““millennial” in the modern era.

This book is so awful it drives me to distraction.

It’s absolute rubbish and I’ll never recommend this book to anyone, even reading the reviews of people who gave it five stars has wound me up. Completely avoid this book and don’t waste your time.

[Emilia Majersik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really recommend for all my fellow twenty something’s! Validates that your 20s are hard af but that there’s things you can do to be more in touch with your own needs and intuitions instead of outside pressures. I also appreciated that the author incorporated a lot on embodiment and non-western ideas of the self without being too preachy

[Audrey Barnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really made me appreciate my therapist. I started seeing her a little under a year ago and we’ve truly been through so much together. Learning to trust myself and following little bread crumbs of joy to figure out what will make for a fulfilling future. She’s an awesome lady and I’m in awe of her craft. She often tells me that “through rupture comes repair”, and Byock’s writing served as a reminder that suffering is necessary for development and gaining a deeply rooted sense of meaning in life. I feel a newfound respect for what I’m going through even though sometimes it f***ing sucks. But also I’m learning so much about myself and life feels like an adventure which is cool. I highly recommend this book for anyone currently experiencing Quarterlife (16-35). The author provides some really helpful mental exercises that are great for inspiring deeper thought. One piece of advice for future readers, however, is don’t give too much thought to whether you are a “stability” or “meaning” type. I found myself difficult to categorize and that bugged me.

“So much information about a person is found in the details of what they love, and why” (Byock, 171)

[Fisal · Rating 2 out of 5]

This second part felt very stereotypical (the “stable” lawyer feeling unseen, the disoriented but sweet queer person working in a restaurant).
The first part with the chapter about young people in historical literature and movies was really interesting though.

[Aly Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

As other reviews say, I appreciated the validation and the stories of Quarterlifers in therapy that showed what progress might look like. I felt it was surface level information, though, and lacking in actionable, "Try this" content (maybe a workbook). Pretty quick read, could be worthwhile for parents of Quarterlifers.

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars for how much I enjoyed it, but 5 stars for effort

Very well-researched and written, but I was a little bored outside of the stories of four of her clients. Even then, I don't know that I really got her point through the stories. But either way, they were entertaining.

[Mizuki Giffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an affirming book! I really couldn't recommend this enough to anyone in their 20s or 30s. It gives a name and set of traits to a stage of early adulthood which is so often overlooked when thinking about our lives; a time which should be dedicated to learning about ourselves, listening to our needs, and defining our own ideas of success, instead of being brushed past as we try to forge a direct path from adolescence to full-blown, independent, stable adulthood.

This book really didn't feel overly self-helpy or overly clinical... Satya Doyle Byock introduces what quarterlife is, defines two types of quarterlifers ('stability' types and 'meaning' types), then tells the story of four average people in early adulthood who struggle with common quarterlife challenges, from being in a dependent romantic relationship to falling into an unfulfilling job to feeling unmotivating and directionless to realizing that the path they've been following doesn't align with what they truly want. Byock doesn't prescribe a linear path to being more successful or more happy. Instead, she gives space to the very real challenges that come with this time of life, and shares ways that being more empathetic to yourself, addressing past traumas, realigning with your core self, and learning what truly brings you joy can help you get the most out of the big questions that arise in early adulthood.

I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook of this!!

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

tried to find myself. did not find

[Cris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting look at the problems of young adults confronting the questions of meaning and a life well lived. Therapy based on the hero’s journey and two types of personalities might be a bit over simplified but a lot felt authentic and valid.

[Carly Medwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

ughhhhh i wanted this to help me so bad and it fell so short. i hate self help books that are basically the author telling you all the great things they’ve done and how if you just copy that, you’ll be fine! except in this book the characters are super stereotyped and not relatable. sure the search for meaning/stability is a spectrum but she just talked about people on extreme sides of the spectrum who made extreme life changes to be happy and sometimes thats just not realistic?? someee tangible steps to help me learn how to separate from what has previously been decided to be good for me and listen to myself instead, but i have still not figured out how to be an adult

[Sierra Tagman]

Was really comforting to hear stories of other individuals in this phase of life. Also a helpful insight to think of individuals learning to reconcile a side within them seeking meaning in life and a side seeking stability, though I’m not sure exactly where I fall on that spectrum. Also got some good book recommendations both fiction and philosophy on this topic

[Sarah Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is the closest I’ve ever dabbled to self help but I’m turning 25 in two and a half weeks so we do what we must. This book brought me such deep comfort and gave me SOOO much to think about re: how to cultivate a meaningful life. I recommend to all my quarter life crisis girlies !!

[Pia · Rating 5 out of 5]

“My hope is not to create a gilded slide from adolescence to midlife. To be alive is to be embodied. To be embodied is to struggle and thrive and struggle and thrive. This inherent oscillation is our birthright.”
—page 207, Conclusion

Quarterlife: The Search for Self in Early Adulthood is written by licensed psychotherapist Satya Doyle Byock, who proposes a new framework for understanding young adulthood in terms of developmental psychology. In 208 pages, Doyle Byock presents the universal Quarterlife struggle as a constant effort of negotiating the internal and external worlds.

Quarterlife covers a wide range of ideas aimed at understanding and supporting young adulthood, grounded in one of its central principles: the uniqueness of each quarterlife. These ideas range from the place of practical life tools in an empowered quarterlife, such as financial literacy, to explorations of the subconscious for creative introspection, including tarot and other divinatory practices. These tidbits of information come from exploring the case studies. Some of them are even immediately usable, such as the activity of drawing two selves.

At its conceptual center, the book has three main elements: 1) the universality of quarterlife development, 2) the Stability Type and the Meaning Type, and 3) the Four Pillars of Development. Together, these provide a comprehensive framework for understanding Quarterlife theoretically and practically.

II.
Quarterlife reads very easily. Doyle Byock writes conversationally, making the book’s voice maintain a professional position while staying empathetic and instructive to the reader. The author is also consistently breaking down the book’s abstract concepts through practical examples, pulling from familiar stories like books and TV shows, or scenarios from her practice. Anyone can read Quarterlife without worry of getting their momentum derailed by having to look up meanings to jargon.

Beautiful structuring takes a book really far. I could feel many organizing elements in Quarterlife, like the research writing principles underlying the whole book’s pace, the case studies format, and the section dedicated to each of the Four Pillars. All of these worked together to facilitate a logical flow that helped the big, complicated idea digest easily.

My favorite structuring element was the case studies. They lent this non-fiction, psychological theory book the appeal of a story, with character, conflict, momentum, and closure.

The case studies also reinforce one of the book’s central concepts: the universality of the quarterlife experience. In each study, Doyle Byock makes a case that helps the book overall cast a wide demographic net. While all the participants were quarterlifers, they faced early adulthood differently depending on the type of conflict they were experiencing and factors such as race, class, gender, sexuality, education, family, and religion. Each of the four case studies featured individuals from unique backgrounds, yet all grappled with the same fundamental question about life. A reader will likely find at least one moment that can speak to their specific experience, if not resonance with one of the case study subjects as a whole.

I appreciate that the book is presented clearly; since Doyle Byock intended her theory to reach Quarterlifers directly, its accessible writing makes this possible.

At the same time, the book deserves credit for maintaining its intelligence throughout. Readers can appreciate its technical rigor as well as its grounding within an established academic field.

Assuming the youngest reader is a 16-year-old exploring their current life stage, I think the book’s textual character (technical content written in accessible language) is especially fitting, as adulthood should be a time where we are able to appreciate academic ideas presented in their full nuance.

III.
I’ve been feeling lost in life. Yet my hardbound copy of Quarterlife sat on my shelf for about a year. I bought it in November 2024, and since then I put it off like a wine bottle shelved for a special occasion, specifically thinking about it as a birthday/birthmonth read.

Which ended up being weirdly prophetic of past-me, because in October 2025, a month away from my birthday, I went through a really difficult mental health crisis, which escalated into a major career choice, the proverbial floor giving out from under me, perhaps long suffering from poor foundations. Gritting my teeth through life had taken me to heights I never imagined, yet in the face of that success, it only took one hit to a fragile part of me for everything to come crashing down. For the past month, the unmooring I once set aside became a reality demanding a face-to-face reckoning, and I kept asking myself how I had let it get this far.

Reading Quarterlife was weirdly exact for me. It reflected back to me my crisis, familiar for its aches and causes. Except the book looked at this crisis with the compassion I refused for myself and the academic analysis I needed to be convinced.

Passages were highlighted and tabbed, shared on my Instagram story, and reflected on. From the fundamental core of the pain to my minor grievances, so much of what I was going through was contained in this book. There were 4 case studies here, and even though I was kinda firmly a Stability Type, I found myself relating a little bit with each one.

I think that sometimes, as I did the past month, that feeling that your pain is unseen makes you think that it's insignificant. And I think that the book’s most powerful effect, aside from the potential shift in developmental psychology its objectively valuable insight and knowledge can do, was the sense of belonging it gave me by framing quarterlife unmooring as a normative, age-graded experience.

Quarterlife didn’t just show me my pain for what it is, it gently reassured me that I was not as far gone as I felt. In learning about each Pillar, I realized that, by intuition, I had already done some of the work necessary to become the person I needed to be. It showed me that the consistent effort I had put out in the world was still there, still supporting me now, and my recent crisis was a mirror setback that would eventually be a mere blip in my life. The book didn’t perform the miracle of teleporting me to my destination. It’s ridiculous to think a book could do that. Instead, it clearly showed me where I was and how to move forward—and I think that’s far more than I could have wished for.

For everyone else, I think that you don't necessarily need an extreme life crisis to enjoy this book. Its earnestness can address that nagging doubt many people feel about the futility of even trying to examine our life. The comprehensive and well-researched knowledge from a professional also makes sure that energy of self-discovery gets directed to the right places. While there is a desire for those who read self-help books to be given definitive instructions, a sort of how-to, Madison Hoffmann’s GR review points out that one of the ideas of the book is that each individual life is so different that you can’t provide a one-size fits all solution for living out quarterlife. Life is something that you live for yourself, for its own sake, including the challenges it throws your way.

“It’s important for books like these to expand our sense of what is possible—if not through happy resolutions, at least by illuminating the path ahead. When we’re feeling lost or are suffering, we need genuine hope for a radically different future.”
—page 199, Conclusion

As a Psychology graduate, I also found Satya Doyle Byock’s underlying philosophy in her practice to be the best demonstration of what clinical psychology can be for people. She’s incredibly empathetic, still a person interacting with other people, open to the possibility of whimsy while staying grounded to what we know. Theory is there to help her clients reimagine themselves as fuller people, with frameworks and definitions showing them more (not less) dimensions that they give themselves credit for, and empowering them to meet that subconscious-self halfway with tools and strategies that bring them towards fruitful negotiations with the self. In Quarterlife, we see psychotherapists as guidance for people to engage with themselves fully and intentionally.

Final Thoughts
Quarterlife: The Search for Self in Early Adulthood formulates a radical reimagining of early adulthood, reclaiming growth as something for survival as much as for the soul, therefore not reserved for later life. Licensed psychotherapist Satya Doyle Byock’s proposed psychological framework covers its bases comprehensively, empathetic and scrupulous every step of the way. Quarterlife defines the psychological self in order to imagine ourselves with more dimension, more humanity and more hope to help ourselves. Nothing short of profound.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this should be required reading.

[Sammy M · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars — a book with a super valuable concept but disappointing delivery.

In Quarterlife, psychotherapist Satya Doyle Byock tackles the unique challenges and struggles for self faced by adults aged roughly 18-36. She categorizes these “quarterlifers” into two broad groups: Meaning types and Stability types—both of which face their own unique struggles. Across four sections, she provides useful tips for how both types can learn to find fulfillment without sacrificing a necessary level of stability.

As I mentioned earlier, I did appreciate the core focus of this book. The struggle to build a stable (but meaningful) life and confusion that comes with both resonate with me. But I ultimately didn’t find Byock’s particular approach super helpful or enlightening.

Byock structures her book around a series of four fictitious patient cases studies. Two are clear Stability types and two clear Meaning types. Although I found the practical illustrations of various therapeutic exercises helpful, I otherwise found myself either underwhelmed or frustrated by these sections.

Byock heavily narrativizes each study, adding detailed descriptions of expressions, personality traits, and even banter. This is where my problems began. Byock’s strength is, simply put, not in narrative writing. I was often distracted by clumsy lines of dialogue or descriptions that felt oddly stilted. Her narration often included excessive subjective internal reactions to what patients were saying. I found myself thinking not about quarter life but instead about why she chose to write the way she did. Ultimately, I spent more time psychoanalyzing the author and her motives than I did any of her patients.

More so, in trying to write a satisfying arc for each patient, she ultimately created case studies that felt far too simplified. Each patient neatly fit into either a Meaning or Stability type and responded well to each exercise. This lack of complexity made the case studies fall flat. This could have been easily addressed through the inclusion of a patient who didn’t fit neatly into a single type or struggled to make progress. I worry that the case studies’ straightforwardness sets readers up for disappointment when their own psychologies prove to be more dynamic.

This just simply wasn’t the book for me. I can definitely understand why many would find this book helpful, and I did appreciate its general concept. However, I just couldn’t get over how Byock wrote the patient case studies.

[Desmond Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unequivocally, undoubtedly, the exact book I needed to read in life right now. Thank you, Satya, for writing this book for us Quarterlifers struggling so hard in a world with little direction for our confusing and struggled thought patterns. What strikes me so hard, is how everyone, literally EVERY adult, has lived through their Quarterlife, and yet the understanding and resources for humans in this time in life is desolate or resoundingly un-useful… Well, that was until Satya laid out the holistic growth process for Quarterlifers. For starters, the distinction between meaning and stability types leads us to understand the subtle, yet existing, macro differences between all quarterlifers. The subsequent issues resulting from their predominant personality types lays the ground work for understanding what needs the quarterlifer has to have in order to grow and graduate into adulthood. The last comment I’ll make, is that the book uses first hand psychotherapy dialogue to walk us through 4 great examples of quarterlifers. This is such a helpful medium to the book. I’m so grateful for this book. I’m excited for the next few steps in my life.

[Jenny Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

A subtle and engaging presentation of applied Jungian psychotherapy with young adults which explores territory others don’t. Byock’s sharp critique of the social and economic obstacles faced by quarterlifers doesn’t detract from her compassionate insistence that they can and should work to craft lives of meaning and substance from the outset of adult life. Her case studies are poignant and recognizable—from the overachieving box-checker who has lost her soul to the dropout, addicted gamer who thinks of suicide. She speaks helpfully about how one cultivates the skill of listening to the unconscious and following the path of individuation without obfuscatory Jungian jargon. Tracing Byock’s clients’ paths to greater wholeness through her creative choice of modalities (from drawing inner subpersonalities to trauma-informed embodiment work to defusing fear of basic money management with a highlighter and a bank statement) was a pleasure and an inspiration. A book for parents, therapists, healing professionals, teens, twenty- and thirty-somethings, and beyond.

[Carlina Scalf · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book found me just when I needed it! I can't believe how crisply Byock put into words the internal struggles I've been feeling as I continue to move through "quarter life" and answer bigger questions about my career, my personal life, and my path forward. I found her distinction between pursing stability and pursuing meaning particularly helpful - I oscillate between the two, and having language to describe that tension was so helpful. I can't wait to recommend this to others.

[Fiona · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oof glad I got a couple of good book recs out of this because other than that this was really starting to feel like a waste of time. Much more about the author attempting to present herself as a great therapist than investigating the psychology of early adulthood.

[Greta Schacht · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kind of sucked tbh