"The sun is shining, it's a lovely day, / a perfect morning for a kid to play. / But you've got lots of bills to pay."
No lyrics have better encapsulated the gist of the concept of emerging adulthood than those mentioned above. Proposed by psychologist Jeffrey Arnett near the end of the last century, emerging adulthood is that weird in-between period where you're fresh out of adolescence (and, usually, high school), likely one your way into college and in the process of figuring out this thing called life that we all have to be a part of. It takes the storm and stress of the teenage years and combines it with...well, adulthood.
There are a lot of ways to explain this nebulous period of growing up. We could try and use Erik Erikson's theory of development, which is valid. But you'll learn all about that and about how he changed his name because he hated his childhood in a Gen. Psych class. We could do testimonials about it, but Arnett beat us to the punch 20 years ago (that was 1995, by the way). But let's take a different approach: a musical starring puppets.
"Avenue Q" is a Tony-winning musical from Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. It's a different take on your typical bildungsroman in that it deals more with the disenchantment that coincides with coming of age, satirizing "Sesame Street" and the concept of cliches many hear throughout their childhoods about being "special" or finding a purpose in life. It's occasionally lewd, potentially offensive and downright disheartening at times amid some of it's more insightful moments. Above all else, though, it's the perfect way to describe emerging adulthood and growing into your own unique person.
Take the first song combo, "What Do You Do with a B.A. in English / It Sucks to Be Me." The main character, Princeton, just got out of college with his English degree and waxes introspective about the scariness of the world before expressing his optimism about making a difference in life. Sounds good, right? Enter Kate Monster, Brian and the rest of the Avenue crew talking about how adulthood, frankly, sucks. The whole song teems with dissolved hopes and disenchantment, which many currently in their early-to-mid-20s experience as adulthood comes to fruition.
That storm and stress thing? In this period of time, it's more like racks on racks on racks of stress.
But it's not all existential crises. It talks about the acceptance of others, awareness of some of our own biases and the vices of fellow beings. It seems like a random conglomeration of the life of younger adults, but that's what makes it kind of beautiful. It makes spectacle out of the mundane and sometimes unusual, but it also gives us a chance to address it in a way we usually haven't.
There are two big things that happen in this period, though - at least according to Erikson's theory. On the adult half of the equation, there's the dilemma of intimacy versus isolation. This statement may be overgeneralized, but nobody wants to die alone. So we find ourselves looking for someone to share life with, whether platonically or (in the case of Princeton and Kate Monster) romantically. "Avenue Q" addresses the concept of love in its varying stages, from burgeoning affection to the heat of deep emotion to those moments when life and love come in conflict. We all go through the stages in relationships. These puppets just happen to sing them aloud.
But then there's the adolescence end of the equation, where the dilemma is identity versus identity confusion. In fact, this whole play is, in some way, about establishing your identity and purpose in life. Whether it's trying to figure out what you're wanting to do to make a difference, trying to live life outside of your comfort zone or doing both to fulfill a purpose, "Avenue Q" takes listeners through the journey we all go through at some point or another as we try and develop into the adults we eventually grow into (as much as we want to avoid that).
So, really, "Avenue Q" is kind of perfect for describing the ridiculous period of in-betweenity that is emerging adulthood. It may not be a definitive guide, nor is it the best moral compass by any stretch of the imagination. But it's a good reminder and reassurance for how life is when you first enter the "real world." If nothing else, it's a good reminder of one vital piece of information:
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