Curate, connect, and discover
I recently had an epiphany about the nature of adulthood. It's kind of like an oak tree.
In botany, the term "tree" does not describe a type of plant. In fact, many different plant groups have evolved into "trees". The term "tree" is a description of a shape/lifestyle that plants can take so you wouldn't really call a freshly sprouted acorn a tree yet. It is a sapling. I think adulthood is similar but kind of the opposite.
Adulthood is not a description of shape but a description of behavior. I have seen many adults who still acted quite childishly and many supposed children who act very adult-like. And no I am not meaning adults who have fun or otherwise don't fit society's arbitrary description of adult behavior.
To better define it, adult behaviors are ones that are motivated by an understanding of the existence of self, and an understanding of the existence of others.
Adults understand that they, themselves, do exist. They understand that they can perform actions that will change their environment. They know that those actions will have consequences. They know that those consequences will, in turn, impact themselves. I have seen many adult-shaped people who did not understand this and thus acted as though they were not under the effect of their own actions, which is untrue. I have also seen many adult-shaped people who acted as though they could not perform any actions to cause a change in their environment which is untrue. Both of these behaviors are very childish.
But to clarify, I am not talking about people who are struggling. I am not talking about people who don't know what to do. I am not talking about people who are trapped in terrible situations with little chance of escaping without outside help. I am saying that if you are asking questions like "What will I do?" or "What am I doing?" or "How will I get out of this?", then, by those very questions, you are displaying one-half of the mentality that proves that you are an adult.
The other half is the understanding of the existence of other people. Other people exist, and on the surface, many adult-shaped people will claim to understand this, but they don't understand it. They know it, and they hate it. They disregard or don't understand the fact that other people exist and are just like themselves. They are people who can affect their world and cause change, who have their own view of the world and feel things just like everyone else.
It is the combination of these lines of thought that leads to more adultlike thinking. Such complex thoughts like "If other people exist and are as unique as I am, then I have probably felt things that other people haven't felt, and other people have felt things that I could never understand. Both of these things co-exist and are both okay. Experiences that I don't understand are still valid." This kind of thinking is what makes you an adult. If you cannot think like this then you are not an adult, but an adult-shaped child.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
Critique away.