What does it mean to be an adult?

Being an adult encompasses more than just reaching a certain age. It's about making wise decisions, being accountable for one's actions, and contributing positively to society.

You have become an adult when:

• your goals are no longer aligned with rewards and loss aversion or what society expects out of you.
• you do good things for the sake of doing them, instead of expecting to be rewarded for it.
• you uphold your beliefs and principles even at the expense of momentary pleasure or losing something.

How to identify an adult-minded person?

The simplest and effective way to determine if a person is adult-minded or not is to watch their actions, especially if under stress. Try to understand their intentions for doing so.

Because the difference between the mindset of a child, an adolescent and an adult is their "why", the reason they do something.

A child-minded will base their action on what is pleasurable and what avoids pain.

An adult would base it on their principles.

while teenagers and young adults base their actions on principles because they believe that they will be rewarded for it.

What is the difference between a Child-minded person and an Adult-minded person?

Before we can discuss what it means to be an adult, we must first determine what a child-minded person and an adult-minded person are.

The following are the factors that differentiate an adult-minded person and a child-minded person:

• Their Perspectives in Life and Mindset;
• Their Sense of Responsibilities;
• Their view on relationships; And
• Their view on themselves or their self-worth.

Perspectives and Mindset

Children base their action on what is pleasurable and what avoids pain. It is then reasonable to assume that a child-minded person is similar in thinking.

Their mindset works like this: IF an action results in pain, then don’t do it again. IF an action results in pleasure, then do it again.

Adults are more socially and emotionally developed than children—or at least they are supposed to be.

They base their actions through the rules of society/group and their assigned roles, while upholding ideas and characteristics that they find virtuous.

For example:

• An adult-minded person is kind for the sake of being kind.
• An adult-minded person is generous for the sake of being generous.
• Adult-minded persons practices bravery for the sake of being brave.

The difference between a child-minded person and an adult-minded person then is that the adult-minded person base their actions on principles that they value, even at the expense of momentary pleasure.

What about teenagers?

For example:

• A teenager is kind because he wants to be well liked
• A teenager is generous because he wants people to be around him.
• A teenager practices bravery because he wants to be honored.

Despite being of adult age, I suspect that the majority of people who are "adults" possesses this mindset, myself included.

It is our job then to be constantly self-aware of our intentions when we do any action that are not of necessary needs.

Sense of Responsibilities

A child-minded person does not fully grasp the consequences of their actions or the impact they have on others.

Their focus tends to be more on their immediate needs, desires, and enjoyment.

An adult-minded person on the other hand recognizes the consequences that may arise from their actions.

They have a broader perspective, considering not only their own needs but also the needs of others and the impact of their choices on various aspects of their life.

Their view on relationships

There are too many things to talk about when it comes to the child-minded and adult-minded's view on relationships.

So I only provided details that I deemed more important and summarized them.

For the child-minded person

• Dependence on others: A child-minded person relies heavily on others, particularly adults, for support, guidance, and meeting their needs within relationships.
• Playful and exploratory: Relationships for a child-minded person often revolve around shared play, fun, and shared experiences. They may prioritize enjoying the moment rather than considering long-term commitments.
• Need for care and attention: They seek care, attention, and validation from others in relationships, as they are still developing their sense of self and emotional understanding.

For the adult-minded person

• Interdependence: An adult-minded person recognizes the importance of mutual support, respect, and interdependence in relationships. They strive for balanced and equitable partnerships based on shared responsibilities and respect for individual autonomy.

For the teenager

• Peer influence: Teenagers place a significant emphasis on peer relationships. They seek acceptance and validation from their peers and may prioritize their opinions and approval.
• Identity exploration: Teenagers use relationships as a means to explore and shape their identity. They may experiment with different social roles and behaviors to understand who they are and where they fit in.

Their view on themselves / Self-worth

Their self-worth is dependent on their own definition of success or failures.

A child-minded person is narcissistic, they either feel that they are the best in the world or the world, nothing in between.

An adult gets their self-worth internally validated by upholding their principles, even in adversity, at the expense of short-lived pleasure.

A teenager’s self-worth, on the other hand, is dependent on other people validating him, his ideas, or his actions.

What does it mean to be an adult?

Finaly, the question you are looking for, "What does it mean to be an adult?".

Being an adult is not simply growing up to a certain age, it is all about accepting responsibility and staying true to oneself.

What do I mean by accepting responsibility?

Accepting responsibility is no different than accepting challanges. And with every challange, there is always a reward.

As an adult or an aspiring one, you must be capable of dealing life's challanges and be able to persists in failure. And it all starts with your mindset.

On the off chance that accepting responsibility is not enough motivation, I suggest that you educate yourself on motivational factors that you should consider and techniques to stay motivated. You can learn more about it here.

In most cases, simply the act of accepting responsibility is enough to make you goal-orientied.

What do I mean by staying true to yourself?

When I say "stay true to yourself", what I mean is that you should honor yourself.

Never betray your own values/principles because those principles are the pillars of your identity.

Betraying those principles will put a crack on how you view yourself, causing you to eventually break down in mind and body.

Part of being an adult is self-care, so staying true to yourself as to not break down meantally and physically is an essential part that you always need to be practicing.