You’ll read it somewhere. You probably have a mug, notebook, pad, or tote bag with the word printed on the front. Maybe you’ve heard a podcast about it. You might even use it yourself, as I did last year in my book on female friendships: “Being the friend who chooses to step back and be something grown-up is unenviable,” I wrote, absolutely Tossed the word hesitantly.
However, the term “adult” has only been in our consciousness for a decade, coined by Kelly Williams Brown, He called a adult in 468: How to do it in 10 easy(ish) steps as an adult. It describes the ability to perform the activities and responsibilities expected of any adult, from work to dating, but it’s not easy for millennials, who hit its milestones later than before and struggle to marry the This extended freedom to do tax returns or have enough toilet paper at home. It’s about becoming more mature, not easier.
This is the millennial version of wanting to have it all: enjoying a carefree youth while having our shit together. Or at least give the look of it. Came home from a family reunion at 5am and the sheets were still being changed the next morning (okay, night). Rest assured, yes, you can have toast at every meal as long as you fold your laundry. Adultization seems to offer a solution – and we’re happy to accept it. At one point, JJ Abrams even suggested turning it into a TV comedy, and the word was added to the Oxford English Dictionary at 2020: “The action or process of becoming, being, or behaviing as an adult; performing mundane or everyday tasks that are essential to adult life.”
Thus, 10 years later, with It is undeniable that its readers are now adults, what do we really learn from being adults?
I was swimming upstream when this book came out, my late 10s – living in a friend’s spare ( Box) room After breaking up with my boyfriend, I hid most of my belongings at my parents’ house, was out the door non-stop, and dismissed words like “pension” and “ISA.” Brown’s advice is exactly what I and others like me want to hear—even though, frankly, most of it is what mom and dad have been telling us all along. Here’s a reassuring quote: “A big part of being a well-adjusted human being is accepting that you can’t be good at everything.” The key thing: “No one ever sets boundaries for you. So learn to set them yourself .” Tough love: “Most people in the world don’t care about you.” And a foreshadowing of our Marie Kondo obsession: “Don’t keep things in your home that make you sad or bad.”
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