It’s weird out there—you’re aging, the world is changing, and the economic landscape is shifting beneath your feet. The things you once cared about suddenly seem so stupid. The things you now care about objectively are. People are dying. Babies are crying. Everyone around you has a crazed look in their eyes. And, each time you meet up with an old friend, or a new acquaintance, or a person you’ve known sort of well for some amount of time, one thing is abundantly clear: they’re going back to school to become a therapist.

When the first friend mentions this, it comes as a delightful surprise. She’s been working at a fancy shoe store that’s really a fancy drug front for far too long. But, when the second, third, and fourth competent buddy with a bachelor’s degree divulges the same update, you may start to wonder—how does this make me feel?

It’s important to note that this phenomenon is beyond your control. We were all fed false promises in our youth about what we could achieve if we set our minds to it, or what we could be if we wanted it enough. Surely, every generation faces this devastating crossroads of actual adulthood. We can’t all be experimental d.j.s forever. Your own therapist had to have decided to become a therapist at some point, right?

But, does having a lot of about-to-be therapists in your life mean that you should become a therapist, too? Does having zero therapists-to-be around you mean that you’re an unexamined brute with no hope for self-actualization? Let’s find out.