Former Stanford Dean Explains 'How To Be An Adult' In New Book
Here & Now‘s Robin Young speaks with Julie Lythcott-Haims about her new book “Your Turn: How to Be an Adult.”
Book Excerpt: ‘How To Be An Adult’
By Julie Lythcott-Haims
- ADULTING (WHAT EXACTLY IS IT?)
my whole life is on the tip of my tongue
empty pages for the no longer young
—Indigo Girls, “Virginia Woolf”
As you read this I’m past the halfway point of my life, and my young adulthood waves at me in the rearview mirror. The wrinkles I thought I’d somehow avoid stand out in every photo. The gray hairs I started plucking when they first arrived are overtaking the brown. My college sweatshirt feels even softer than it did back in the day, but it has a lot of holes. My dying days are nearer, I know. Is that weird to say? Maybe. But, it’s true. Yet even so, I am still becoming me. And you are becoming you. This I also know.
What a cool thing.
You may think that adulting is all about paying your taxes and trying to make sense of the benefits package at work (assuming you’re lucky enough to have a benefits package, or steady work for that matter). But you would be wrong to think it’s all about that
