SAN FRANCISCO – While the word ‘adulting’ is new, being a grown up is not, and it’s not easy.
In a recent survey, 63% of Gen Z and millennials said they didn’t feel prepared for the responsibility and were burnt out by the time they reached adulthood.
Feedback like that became motivation for a former Stanford University dean, to write a how-to book on how to grow up and act your age.
No matter how old you are, being an adult can be tricky these days.
Author and former Stanford dean, Julie Lythcott-Haims understands why. In prior generations being an adult was a little simpler. You were expected to leave home, get a job, marry, have kids.
Nowadays, there are challenges not previously present. Lythcott-Haims realized that while times have changed, many are still defining adulthood by these outdated markers.
“There are a lot of messages that imply if you haven’t done those things, you’re a failure. You’re not a failure. Society has changed,” Lythcott-Haims said.
She is spreading that message in her book, “Your Turn: How to be an adult.”
“It’s not about achieving this and that. It’s really about, are you showing up in your daily life, no matter where you live or with whom,” Lythcott-Haims said.
You must realize that things may not always work out perfectly. That notion rings true with Jamie Nunez.
“You need to understand work by going to help your grandfather in his peanut farm,” Nunez said his father told him.
Lythcott-Haims said that being an adult is not a checklist, but a process. So, no matter how old you are, it is something that you’ll get better at and more comfortable with over time.
“It’s on me to be responsible and accountable for my own stuff, my deadlines, my belongings, my business, my bills, my body. It’s not about salary, title, where you live or with whom. It’s ultimately knowing this is my one wild and precious life and I’m going to figure out how to live it. And I am rooting for you,” Lythcott-Haims said.