How To Pretend You’re a Grown Up

By Garnet Henderson – Columbia U

Lately, there’s been a lot of talk about how the 20-something years are the new adolescence. It seems like everywhere I turn, there’s an article about how people my age are growing up more slowly than ever. Oh, and (apparently) we’re also whiny, immature and needy.

I have pretty mixed feelings about all these theories. I think that almost every older generation has a tendency to criticize the current young-adult generation. We do things differently than our parents did, and our lives take different paths. But it’s important to remember our parents did things that were just as strange in their parents’ eyes. It’s a nice little tradition the world has got going.

On the other hand, as a college student, I do recognize that I’m in an in-between stage. Sometimes, I feel very adult and responsible. Other times, I think it wouldn’t be so bad to go back to kindergarten and have naptime every day. Oh wait, there’s naptime in college, too. Having one of those days where you feel like you belong more in middle school than in college? Here are a few tried-and-true ways to pretend you’re a grown up.

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Garnet is a student at Columbia University in New York City. She is “that person” who starts dancing at a party when everyone else is standing around, and if there were a Facebook stalking Olympics, she would be a gold medalist.  She also has a love for cheesy 90s music, and almost died of happiness when Vanilla Ice tweeted at her. Once. Follow her on Twitter @garnethenderson.