from the editor: declare your adulthood

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I recently watched a video on Ted.com titled Why 30 is Not the New 20 by clinical psychologist and author of the book, The Defining Decade, Meg Jay. Jay explains how more and more we’re treating our 20s like a throwaway decade with researchers calling the decade an extended adolescence and the media coining terms like, “kiddult.” She acknowledges that, yes, marriage, work and kids are happening later in life, but explains that it doesn’t mean that twentysomethings should delay taking critical steps to mold their future. Jay’s talk is essentially a warning of procrastination on a large scale. She urges us to claim our adulthood because we’re deciding our lives right now. She also provides three simple steps on exactly how to do that. Watch the full video below to find out what they are.

kellyrowlands Whether you’re in your 20s, 30s, 40s, older or younger, Jay’s message can be applied to you. I often find myself “living in the future,” thinking of some distant moment when everything is built, when the destination has been reached and all the dreams are fulfilled. It’s so easy to imagine the final product but not the process, especially when you’re figuring out the process as you go. But as I’ve been “going,” I’ve realized that the dream is happening now. Dreams aren’t fixed—the life you want to live isn’t just one moment; it’s many moments made up of your everyday routine, small wins, big wins and big fails. Most importantly, your dream is made up of everything you need to do shape it. Living your dream now means shaping it now. In July we celebrate America’s independence, a cornerstone in a new nation’s pursuit of happiness. In that same spirit, this month at Un’ruly we’re celebrating the pursuit of individual happiness through declarations of adulthood; and we’ll be taking a look at revolutions and movements and what it takes to really bring about change on both an individual and social level.