I've just turned 27 and finally become a grown-up - according to my fellow millennials, at least. It is the official age at which twenty-somethings now see themselves as "proper adults", a survey found last week - news that will no doubt have older generations, who were mostly married with children and a mortgage by that age, wringing their hands.
All this would make my birthday rather daunting, if it wasn't for the fact that I already feel like an adult. Unlike many of my peers, I've felt this way for the past few years. I'm by no means married with children, yet I have faced enough failures, successes and challenges to force me into some sort of maturity.
For Generation Y, being an adult does not necessarily mean ticking off traditional "life goals", like planning your career, settling down with a long-term partner or buying a property. Nor does it entail vowing never to step foot in a club again.
In 2017, the markers of adulthood are no longer what they used to be. For millennials, becoming a grown-up can be as simple as learning to bleed a radiator and coping with a crisis alone. These are the signs you're really a grown-up:
1. Love life strife. Nothing forces you to grow up more than ending a serious relationship, especially when it is done amicably. I'm now on break-up number two, and the pain of losing someone is no easier than it was when I was 20. Still, I maintain that it is the best way to learn how to rely on yourself.
2. Looking after number one. Having a massage isn't necessarily a sign of decadence, and nor is ordering a meal in at the end of a long day. Learning to make choices you know will relieve pressure during tricky times are all key parts of adulthood. There's no shame in asking for help.
3. Parting with your smartphone. We're all so addicted to the highs of racking up "likes" on Instagram (four in 10 millennials say they interact more with their smartphones than with actual humans) that being able to disconnect is now a true sign of maturity. My current record is six hours.
4. Failing well. We're dubbed the "snowflake generation" who can't take the heat when things get rough, but most of the time our so-called failures are simply a case of not meeting our own high expectations. The biggest lesson I've learnt in my twenties is knowing when to try again after something goes awry, and managing my expectations so those "failures" do, in the long-run, become successes.
Telegraph, London
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