The heart of this book is simple but powerful. Author Jillian Reilly invites readers to tear up the old rulebook for what it means to “be an adult” and instead write our own permission slips. She offers ten guiding principles like “Be Willful,” “Go Astray,” and “Forget about the Future,” each meant to help us navigate a world that feels more uncertain and chaotic than the one our parents knew. Through personal stories, global perspectives, and plenty of gentle nudges, she frames adulthood not as a rigid set of milestones but as a creative and ongoing act of self-authoring.

The writing is warm, conversational, and at times almost conspiratorial, as though she’s leaning in and whispering, “You really don’t have to live that way anymore.” I found myself nodding along, sometimes with relief and sometimes with a pang of recognition. Her insistence that we give ourselves permission to fail, to wander, to feel lost felt both liberating and oddly radical, especially in a culture so obsessed with status and achievement. It made me think about how many of my own choices have been steered by “supposed to” rather than “want to,” and that realization was uncomfortable, but also motivating.

Some of the ideas, while inspiring, felt easier said than done. “Travel light,” for example, sounds freeing until you remember that debt, kids, or aging parents don’t exactly let you toss everything overboard. And yet, even in those moments, I didn’t feel dismissed. Instead, I felt challenged to consider what lightening my own load might look like, even if only in small ways. Her stories, especially those about her sons, gave the ideas a grounding in real life, and I appreciated that she didn’t pretend to have it all figured out.

I found the book energizing. It’s the kind of read that makes you want to scribble in the margins, dog-ear pages, and then hand it to a friend with an urgent, “You need this.” I’d recommend it to anyone feeling stuck, burned out, or caught between old definitions of success and the life they actually want. It’s not a how-to manual, and it doesn’t give you a neat five-step plan. What it gives is something more vital: permission to imagine, to try, to fail, and to keep going. And honestly, that feels like exactly what adulthood in this messy century requires.

Pages: 176 | ISBN : 1963827295