Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope writer, Stefanie Preissner, is on a mission to find out how to adult. From trying to figure out what a mortgage is to finding out what a pension entails, Stephanie is determined to find a guide to life as a grown up.
We caught up with Stephanie to find out more about the series and exactly how we should be adulting.
How to Adult - where did the idea of the show come from?
I was sitting around with my friends over coffee or lunch and - just like when we were in leaving cert and we had to reassure assure each other that none of us was studying more than the other - I found myself reassuring and being reassured that none of my friends had started looking into pensions or mortgages or buying cars, having kids etc.
We felt so overwhelmed by these 'grown up' things that, like school, we needed reassurance that we were all in the same boat. but I got the feeling the boat was sinking. I was always the kid at school who put their hand up to ask the question everyone was thinking but were too afraid to ask so I went off to get the information I need and bring it back to the people who want and need it.
Do you think Millenials are worse at adulting than previous generations?
No. I think we are simply reaching adult milestones later in life. I also feel that the infrastructure around many of these milestones- mortgages, pensions, social security- haven't adapted to the gig economy that many millennials now find themselves in.
We no longer get a job at 18 and stay in it until we are 65- there is a transience and a mobility of labour but banks etc see this as insecure and that eliminates us as clients in their eyes.
What can your guide to life offer viewers?
Unbiased information in bite-size portions. I wanted the episodes to be as palatable and manageable as possible. They're each only around 10-12 minutes so they're watchable on the go and not so information dense that they give you a headache. We live in a world where all possible information on any topic is available at our fingertips- it's overwhelming and it's not all correct. So How to Adult offers bite-size trustworthy facts.
What was the biggest learning you gained from making the show?
My producer from Areaman is called Shane, he was the oldest person on the production team. I think I got the biggest learning from him while we were filming. Watching his shocked and often pained expression as we were given insight into the realities of healthcare, the cost of mortgages, the large chunk of your monthly income that a pension demands, the dangers of buying a car from a stranger and the effect of poor diet on your future health, taught me that probably no-one ever truly feels like they are an adult.
I think I've learned that growing old and growing up are not the same thing. But I also learned that the pursuit of information is a worthwhile one and no one should ever feel embarrassed, at any age, to go and get the information they need. I don't think it's ok that we make people feel embarrassed for not knowing things that someone else has decided they should know.
Where do you get your inspiration from? Who taught you to adult?
I get my inspiration from my life, my friends, my conversations... everywhere. I generally follow my distracted brain. So when my mind wanders when I'm bored, I listen carefully to where it wanders. If it goes constantly to the same place, then I know that's something I need to pursue.
When I was writing my book (WHY CAN'T EVERYTHING JUST STAY THE SAME?) and would get distracted my mind was constantly drifting off to 'Will I ever own my own house?". When I'm distracted from writing Can't Cope Wont' Cope series 2, I generally start daydreaming about food.
I'm fascinated by people who eat protein bars and why Penney's sell them. Some people seem to use them instead of going to the gym. I wanted to look at what a healthy diet actually looks at because there are so many click-bait sites out there telling me I should ONLY be eating fats and others that say that if I eat fats that I am a bad person.
When I'm in bed at night and I can't sleep I worry about my nana and then that leads me to worry about my future, when I'm old and how I will fund that. Those things happened often enough for me to take them seriously and they became the Mortgages, Health&Fitness and Pensions episode of How To Adult.
