A lot of us have an idea of what a grown-up looks like and does, but how often are we actually told what it means to grow up? Not many, and those of us who are told are usually told to get a "real job" (9-5 desk job or vocation typically) or stop complaining about things that go wrong in our lives. Is that really what that means though? When talking about a "grown-up" we have to isolate, what really makes us think of that person as such?
Generally they are gainfully employed, financially stable (even if not well-off), and have healthy interpersonal relationships.
Great, so how do we get from college students who are still trying to figure out what adulting even is to such "grown-ups" who have their lives together? Ultimately, a lot of it comes from experience. Financial stability comes from knowing how to work with the money you have, the best teacher of which is experience.
Is that really it though? Is all that separates a "grown-up" from anyone else financial experience? No, I'd argue there is more to it.
Think about the times you've heard someone told to grow up. Now remove any of them where the speaker was imposing their career values on the other (such as with the aforementioned "real" jobs). What it boils down to is emotional maturity.
The Millennial generation is still in the finding itself stage. A lot of us are trying to figure out who we are (bearing in mind the label of Millennial applies to a range from the mid 1980s to 2000) with the goal of growing up to become fully fledged adults. Here is the secret we are almost never told:
Growing up isn't about finding yourself, it's about finding how to live with others.
Think about the people who are successful by their own definition. The lawyers who have the best trial performance, mechanics that people recommend to their friends, nurses and doctors who help the most people, teachers that their kids love, artists of any kind who are able to make a living off their art. Not all of them are successful based on how much money they make, but all of them can be called successful in their field. What's the secret?
Knowing how to live and work with others.
As much as hard-core introverts might disagree with me, we have to work with others for any individual life to be fulfilling. Even if not personally, professionally. If you can not work with others, your success is immediately limited by that. Moreover, emotional maturity is more or less defined by our ability to interact positively with others.
Growing up is the process of learning how to be a member of the larger society in which we all exist. It's about the relationships you build with those around you that can either propel you through whatever your goals might be or hold you back. The right friendships can help you through the hardest times and solid relationships with coworkers can make almost any job bearable or even fun, not to mention increase your success in that field.
