The source of adulthood

When I was a child, adulthood was a far-off, unattainable state of being that I never in a million years thought I would achieve. Of course, far less than a million years passed by my tiny little brain before I was forced to call myself an adult: physically, if not mentally.

Perhaps in a society where young people are living at home until well into their 20s, university education is extending their entry into the work force, and life is really not that difficult, it's easy to put off adulthood until much later in life. ("Guilty!")

After many references to 'bloody students', and 'get a real job!' from people I know outside my low-stress, if not impoverished university 'employment', I've come to realise that I am a guilty statistic in this observation. This has lead me to wonder, 'Am I less of an adult compared to others my own age? Is this because of my university education?

So I looked outside of my university surroundings and made some judgemental observations. During my employment as a part-time 'trainee optical dispenser' at an optometry clinic, I have clearly observed a higher frequency of 'marriage, babies, and intimate living situations' among the younger members of staff as compared to my university peers. However, I wouldn't be a scientist if I didn't bring your attention to the extremely small sample size, as well as the innate bias of the experimenter! Personally, I do not believe that these stereotypical markers of life progression are a true indication of adulthood

So as a biological scientist-in-training, I moved my experiment away from what wasn't working and onto a question that I could answer. I applied a reductionist approach and asked: 'Where is the source of adulthood for a PhD student'?

It surely can't be during the initial holiday period, when everything is exciting and new. It can't be during the first oral or poster presentation, when the audience is gentle on the early PhD student. Is it during the inevitable depression that sets in during the later years when data is scarce and time is running out? Or when you finally hand in that thesis?

Lately, I've come to realise that not all questions can be answered by research, and perhaps this is one of them. I've realised that very little quality data is required to publish a paper. I've realised that the best quality a researcher can have is the ability to write a good story.

So here I am, demonstrating all these points in one blog post. I have no idea where the source of adulthood is, but I can theorise with some quirky writing and very little real content.

As I write this, I have to wonder, am I on my way to 'PhD adulthood?'