Looking at ourselves in the mirror, we see the complex beings the trials and triumphs of our individual lives have shaped us to be. We see legal adults, college students, hard workers, and overall complex beings; however, one thing is true for all of us, we are all still children. It is everyone’s first time living, no one knows the answers. We do what we think is best and cross our fingers it will work out for the best.
We still throw temper tantrums in traffic and get irritated when someone cuts in line. We continue to seek comfort in what we were raised with. Holding our youthful emotions close and remodeling our inner child to fit into our world today.
We collect Squishmallows and crystals, listen to the music our parents played growing up, we take routines and habits formed in our childhood homes to dorms and apartments. We continue to seek methods to keep our youth alive and avoid the mundane realities of adulthood.
Gabby Burton, a recent Colorado State University graduate, said, “Whenever I have a bad day I watch something nostalgic, like Cheetah Girls or Suite Life of Zack and Cody, it makes me feel young again and pauses the current chaos in my head.”
While it’s not all bad, we have bigger budgets to get new gadgets and opportunities to travel and see musicians live. Growing up comes with a whole new set of problems that are kept in the blind spots when being told stories of adulthood.
At all the different stages of life, we are told various versions of what growing up looks like. It went from craving the freedoms of an adult, to quickly realizing those freedoms come with paying rent, taxes and LinkedIn doom scrolling.
“It’s definitely different than I would’ve imagined, just a lot of work,” Burton said about post-grad life. “It certainly isn’t all fun.”
Whether you wanted to be a firefighter, surgeon, ballerina, or NFL player, all of those were once achievable, but when did we stop swimming in the dream ocean and get on the reality boat?
Rosie Grant-Hudd, senior zoology student at CSU, grew up loving animals and always knew she would work with them someday.
“The idea of what I would do with animals has definitely shifted,” Grant-Hudd said. “It started as me wanting to be a zookeeper, then I wanted to travel to rainforests and research different things. Now the goal is to be a wildlife veterinarian and someday maybe start my own wildlife sanctuary.”
Maturity was always thrown in our faces growing up, now we are being told to enjoy our final years before entering the “real world.” While babies don’t pay taxes, we still cry when we miss our parents and throw tantrums when nothing is going our way.
We’re all told that things get easier and more fun, the glorified tales of adulthood and often resist the unfortunate truths we have to face once we cross the finish line of our adolescence.
From the places and the people we grew up with, to the trials and triumphs we encounter along the way, one thing is true for all of us: we are just children in bigger bodies, with slightly more emotional intelligence.
