Thereâs also just the way we were raised, where adulthood was treated as automatic and innate. The authority of adults was meant to be unquestioned by virtue of their adulthood. When you get older, you too will automatically Be An Adult, and be inheritor to this great authority.
Basically the word âadultâ or âgrown upâ was used to condescend to us and exclude us. And what made a person an adult was treated as inherent.
Then we got older and tripped into what actually doing adulthood meant and came to find that
1. The people who were supposed to explain to us how this worked had completely failed to do so
2. They had done so in such a way that was meant to protect their authority while also (possibly inadvertently) barring us from the experiences and skills that wouldâve helped us transition into adulthood better.
3. There is no inherent authority that comes with adulthood. The adults around us were talking out of their ass. Adult is a verb, not a noun. Itâs not an inherent source of authority, itâs a thing you work at daily and you have to maintain it.
And whatâs more the same people who lorded their age over us, telling us repeatedly weâd suddenly come to agree with them with age, completely failed to cede any of that authority or power even as some millennials are now staring down 40. So clearly âadulthoodâ is a game youâre trying to play to control us, even now. Fuck that. Weâre not playing.
Honestly that some in Gen Z find it irritating is fine by me. If they think it sounds juvenile, thatâs because it is. It is specifically useful in that it breaks the illusion of adults being better than kids. When kids are like, âyou sound absurd. Youâre in your thirtiesâ Iâm like, yeah kid. Thatâs the thing. Being an âadultâ never stops being absurd. If it makes me sound like the mundanities of my life are all a performance that has nothing to do with my actual age or ability, good. Thatâs why I say it. Iâm glad youâre growing up knowing that age isnât an inherent door to authority. Iâm glad youâre growing up thinking âfuck, these adults ten years older than me donât act grown up at all.â Thatâs what we want. Thatâs we call it âadultingâ, instead of claiming adulthood as part of us.
Maybe if your gen is lucky you will feel more appropriate claiming your adulthood without caveats. Maybe your definitions of adulthood are more versatile, so you wonât feel barred from the signifiers youâd need to feel like an adult. Maybe youâll have a better launching pad. Maybe youâll always hate we call it âadultingâ. Thatâs okay. I hope you get better than we did. But Iâm still gonna call it adulting.
As to Boomers who donât like it, you shouldnât have defunded my practical education and made getting a foot into a normal stable life so damn difficult, you fucks.
areudirty
titsay
