Adulting these days is just plain hard.
If you don’t believe it, just ask any student who is living away from home for the first time or preparing to graduate soon. He or she will tell you that being an adult these days is presenting a number of challenges for them to deal with — and these challenges are all stressful and hard. One therapist said adulting is hard for most people, so young adults should not feel they are the only ones having a hard time.
A popular meme sums up the feelings of many students: An exhausted puppy has collapsed on the deck, and the words explaining the picture say: “I can’t adult today. Please don’t make me adult.”
Research shows that many young adults today have internalized those same words and they aren’t “adulting” as previous generations did at their age. Compared to earlier generations, young adults have been slow to get married and have children or live independently, which are some of the milestones traditionally associated with becoming a grownup.
Then throw in the tough economic environment of the past few years and the changing landscape of maybe not being able to realize your dream job, and it’s no wonder many students don’t want to adult yet.
The Northwestern News will be looking at some of the issues these young adults face in a four-part series on adulting in 2023.
Part 1 considers the financial minefield young adults have to navigate and looks at common mistakes they make.
Part 2 explores the phenomenon of young adults returning home to live with family instead of creating their own households.
Part 3 will delve into relationships, looking at why so many young adults are waiting to settle down, get married and start families.
Part 4 addresses a reality that many young adults don’t even want to think about: not getting the dream job or career and thus having to settle for something else.
Follow along for the next four weeks as our senior reporters examine these issues. Part 1 begins today on Page 4.
