5 Life Lessons from Adult World

This movie is so millennial, I literally can’t even… and if you haven’t checked it out on Netflix yet, I recommend you do ASAP.

Amy, played by Emma Roberts, is our 22 year old protagonist. It should be noted, if you are not okay with dark humor and politically IN-correct jokes, do not watch this movie… for example, it starts with Amy mimicking Sylvia Plath’s suicide by placing her head in the oven, only to stop herself a few moments later as she realizes she’s committing “suicidal plagiarism”.

Amy is a recent graduate with her degree in poetry, trying to “make it”. She is riddled with student debt, and highly detached from reality (mostly because her parents have been footing the bill for so long, IMO). She is basically everything snarky ever written about millennials, in the most humorous way possible, as it shows just how out of touch many publications make our generation out to be. For example at one point Amy begins screaming: “I AM SPECIAL! I GOT GOOD GRADES! I SCORED IN THE 97TH PERCENTILE ON MY SAT’S, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!”

I won’t spoil the movie for you, but I will share some important little gems that can be found in this movie if you look past all of its ridiculousness.

1. Never meet your heroes.

This seems to be a theme in my life right now, and it’s important to remember, that the people we look up to are exactly that: people. They put their pants on one leg at a time… and they probably aren’t at all what we expect.

2. You are not alone in your quarter life crisis.

Life does not come with a syllabus (how nice would that be?!) and college doesn’t really prepare anyone for the real world, so when you’re still in school, try to spend your time getting life experience rather than staying in the cushy confines of campus.

via GIPHY

3. Instant success / fame is our generation’s *horcrux.

Why would I choose horcrux?

Other than the fact that I’m a huge Harry Potter nerd, it’s because Amy has been giving away tiny parts of her soul trying to please others (the publications & literary snobs, thereby making her poetry her horcrux) by modeling herself after poets she admires, and in turn has consistently been killing things that would help her grow and achieve happiness in life. She has never really gotten to know herself, and thus is completely detached from reality.

4. We all have to pay our dues.

In life, to achieve our dreams, we have to work. We have to do jobs that don’t relate to our dreams, we have to “play the game”, and that’s okay. That’s how we develop the skills to make our dreams come true. Even Sophia Amoruso talks about how all her odd jobs helped developed skills and helped her in finding her way to becoming the ultimate #GIRLBOSS.

5. We have to say “no” to our parents sometimes.

I think one of the pivotal scenes in the movie is when Amy decides to leave her parents’ house (although for pity’s sake, she goes on to tell her friend she got kicked out). You see, I really do not believe Amy would have developed any sense of independence or insight into who she is unless she spent some time away from her childhood home, and thrust into the “Adult world” (You see what I did there? haha #puns4life).  If you are feeling stuck or unfulfilled, challenge yourself to figure out a problem on your own without your parents help.