I’m not entirely sure how to call myself yet. I mean do I call myself a young adult or an emerging adult? I mean a couple of theorists might disagree in this particular area. Jeffrey Arnett tells us that this particular stage of psycho-social development is somewhere in the 20s age bracket (lumenlearning.com). Another theorist tells you that in more recent times, the emerging adult could be someone in his/her 30s. I think I’d agree with either of the two scholars depending on the economic and social context surrounding the emerging adult. In Western countries like the US where children are encouraged to be independent from their families at age 18 already, adulthood might occur pretty earlier than in countries where interdependence is culture.

Let me state that maybe in my case I am a hodge-podge of this and that. I grew up with some kind of American mentality (probably due in large part to my listening to American music as a young kid). So I adulted rather early. And what I mean by that is I worked at age 18 already. That happened while I was a freshman in the University of the Philippines. So, it took a lot of convincing from me to get my parents to allow me to work and move out. My parents were in the province of Eastern Samar while I was in Cebu City working as a call center agent and studying in UP. Lots of reasons prompted me to move out to Cebu. I don’t want to dig into those reasons yet. But one thing was for sure, I think that at the age of 18, I was already trying my very best to be an adult.

Fast forward to now that I am already in my late 20s. My parents are both in heaven now. I have moved to Manila already. Oh dear, I am about 31 years old. I am now part of the hospitality industry, been freelancing as a jazz singer, and currently trying to finish school with the University of the Philippines, this time on a digital, distance-learning mode. Which is so very convenient by the way as I can do a lot of other things on top of schooling.

Levinson talks about a dream.

I’d like to quote Levinson:

“…young adults have an image of the future that motivates them. This image is called ‘the dream’ and for the men interviewed [that Levinson interviewed for his book], it was a dream of how their career paths would progress and where they would be at midlife. Dreams are very motivating. Dreams of a home bring excitement to couples as they look, save, and fantasize about how life will be. Dreams of careers motivate students to continue in school as they fantasize about how much their hard work will pay off. Dreams of playgrounds on a summer day inspire would-be parents. A dream is perfect and retains that perfection as long as it remains in the future. But as the realization of it moves closer, it may or may not measure up to its image…” (lumenlearning.com).

When I was in my early 20s, I was dreaming of becoming a music therapist. That’s why I shifted from biology to psychology earlier in my UP schooling. Then later on, I began concentrating on jazz music. As I started pursuing private jazz lessons and jazz performances on top of my on-going UP education, I began getting broke. Well, I had to spend on my jazz pursuits. Up to now I am broke. I have been buried in debt. That’s very sad. I am still trying to repay quite a number of loans at the moment. I am single. I had a romantic relationship years ago. That did not work. I was being insecure in every way- physically, socially, financially. Uh, talk about intimacy versus isolation. Hello, Erikson?

Now I am single and still dreaming to be a jazz singer who has produced, sold an album. I just recently gave up my condo unit because I couldn’t afford the rent of it any longer. So lately, I am able to live either with my closest family members or with my very charitable friends. Depends on where my feet take me on a given day. I have not been doing really well on my sales job in the hotel. Mostly, for the last 12 months, I have been dependent on financial support from family members and friends. I have been making loans too. And up to now, I am not debt-free yet. To top it all, I am trying to graduate. I am still singing jazz every now and then. I still have that dream. Meshed with my pressing priorities for the time being. I have really good friends. And really loving relatives. I have good social support. I even sing in church occasionally. That gives me spiritual fulfillment. And that makes me feel closer to my Maker. To my Jesus. To Yahweh, my God who I believe has something in store for me. Something really great. A men to that!!!

Indeed dreams can be quite motivating.

And with all the crazy financial entanglements I have been through so far, I can say that I’ve got to have to refocus. To re-discern. To take a different, more informed look at my choices so far. Money has been very elusive and important to me. I am probably in the age 30 transition phase already. I have to think about my attitude towards what allows me to live everyday, towards what allows me to eat, drink, travel, commute, and help my relatives. Does jazz afford me any one of those? I don’t know. For now, I need to have a lot of money. I need to have a very stable job.

I need to finish school. Maybe a degree can get me a really stable, financially rewarding career. Maybe I should immigrate to a first-world country soon. But certainly, I have to be humble and wait, wait, wait for my jazzy dreams to come true eventually.

What do I do for now? Well, maybe, I can go ahead and take care of myself biologically. To ensure that in my later adulthood years, I still have the stamina to perform jazz and enjoy what I love to do. Honestly, I am aware of a lot of artists especially jazz artists who are performing and are really having the prime of their careers in their late 40s or 50s or even 60s. Maybe they have been in the same vein as I have.

Let’s get scientific a bit. A study has found out that if we take care of our bodies in our early, young adulthood years, especially in terms of our cholesterol levels, all that will have a say as to whether someone is prone to cardiovascular ailment later in life. Let me quote the study directly:

” The authors pooled data from 6 U.S. cohorts with observations spanning the life course from young adulthood to later life, and imputed risk factor trajectories for low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterols, systolic and diastolic BP starting from age 18 years for every participant. Time-weighted average exposures to each risk factor during young (age 18 to 39 years) and later adulthood (age ≥40 years) were calculated and linked to subsequent risks of coronary heart disease (CHD), heart failure (HF), or stroke ” (Zhang, Y. et al, 2019).

Quoting the conclusion of the same study as well:

” Cumulative young adult exposures to elevated systolic BP, diastolic BP and LDL were associated with increased CVD risks in later life, independent of later adult exposures. “

So, I need to have a good heart (both emotionally and physiologically) by then. For now, what do I do? Maybe I’ll keep honing my jazz voice, try to build more and more connections in the music industry, and save, save, save a lot of mone. Of course, I have to keep physically fit. Keep working out in the gym every now and then. Walk everyday. Talk to people everyday. If I get luckier, I can probably have a career in jazz earlier than my middle or late adulthood stage. Who knows? What matters is that I am doing something in every stage of my adulthood transition.

Keep dreaming (and working) I will.

References:

Theories of Early Adult Psychosocial Development. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-lifespandevelopment/chapter/theories-of-psychosocial-development/

Zhang, Y. et al, 2019. Associations of Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Levels During Young Adulthood With Later Cardiovascular Events. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Volume 74, Issue 3, 23 July 2019, Pages 330-341 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2019.03.529