Millennials and the pursuit of adulthood

Letter July 18, 2017
Millennials’ pleasure in simple comforts that provoke feelings of childlike curiosity is not unfounded

KARACHI: When does one finally feel older? After passing a major milestone in my life with the completion of my undergraduate degree, I expected to be floating on the cloud of adulthood. Stepping out of my university campus on the day of my last exam, I felt a kaleidoscope of emotions — excited, confused, jubilant, upset — but the only feeling I could not place a finger on was maturity. “Does it not happen that way?” I wondered en route home. “How could I have graduated college and feel like a child inside? Did anyone else?”

I came to learn that it wasn’t just me. And then I further realised that it wasn’t just us. When I posed this train of thoughts to people considered adults around me, they agreed with my hypothesis. No, you never really feel older, and especially not, they added, when you’re under the love and care of those who are older than you.

Whether it’s a listicle on ‘30 Things We Miss About the 00s’ or news of cast reunions from shows such as Lizzie Mcguire, the internet undoubtedly spoon-feeds nostalgia for 20-somethings. It always comes with a laugh and a heartening trip down memory lane, where one remembers where they were and what life was like during their childhood. Typically, those formative years recall a simpler time, an experience of joy and wonder absent the responsibilities and struggles of adulthood.

Millennials’ pleasure in simple comforts that provoke feelings of childlike curiosity is not unfounded. According to a new report, most people now say that they don’t feel that they’re adults, on average, until the age of 29. Most said that buying a home, having kids, marriage, having a pension and life insurance made them feel like adults. But items such as financial reliance on parents, living in their parents’ home, computer games, children’s movies and cartoons made them feel like kids.

It’s extremely hard to feel as though you’re independent, even as a legal adult, when the economy and the financial system offer no stress-free trail to independence. Inadvertently, in the process, millennials like me could very well be redefining what it means to be an adult, as a person on a continuous path of growth, no matter what age, inherited socioeconomic status or educational attainment they may have.

Jahanzaib Akhter

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18th, 2017.

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