I know, I know… I need to grow up…
January 6, 2010 1:30 pmIn the last couple decades very few people jump from graduating high school to being a settled down adult. There has now stretched out a very long period of time that involves exploration, trying to figure one’s self out, trying different jobs, maybe going to college, maybe going to graduate school until you are 30 years old, it involves a lot of feeling in limbo, instability, transients and a sense of opportunity but also confusion and anxiety and melodrama and self obsession… emerging adult hood.
Its its own phase in the life coarse, so its not just the last hurrah’s of being a teenager and its not the early stages of being a fully settled down adult. Its its own almost 10 year period that has its own characteristic experiences, expectations, and cultural feel to it.
Most emerging adults do have it in their minds that sometime in the future they will settle down and become fully mature adults, and by that they mean the standard markers in our culture. They get married, have children, have a real serious career, and get a house or condo, and begin to experience a full fledged middle class mass consumer lifestyle with the appropriate vehicles, pets, and children.
Many look forward to that, but it has less of a tone of maturity or responsibility or duty than it does, finally succeeding, finally perhaps stop partying, be a responsible spouse, and settle down… it has a very strong materialistic feel to it.
~Christian Smith, “emerging adults” Mars Hill Audio interview.
Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults
Author: Patricia Snell
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