Are you ever driving on the highway and are suddenly struck with the fact that you're allowed to drive? Do you ever reminisce about imaginary play that you and your siblings used to love, and realize that was 15 years ago?
Every now and then, I'm stunned by how quickly I became an adult. And it's especially in the little things that I suddenly enjoy or am responsible for now when I realize that suddenly, I'm a grown-up. I don't know when or how it happened, but here we are.
Here are 21 of those little signs that you're suddenly an adult (Thank you to the Odyssey's Top Influencers group for all the great ideas!).
1. Drinking coffee
Okay, I still don't like coffee. But remember when we weren't allowed to drink it or when we thought it was disgusting?
2. Driving
As I mentioned, driving just gets me. All of a sudden, I actually know how to get from my house to the grocery store because I'm the one doing the driving. Driving was one of the first adult milestones, and we already passed it years ago.
3. Making your own "play dates"
Okay, maybe they aren't really "play dates" anymore, but you aren't asking your mom if you can get coffee (there's the coffee again...) with friends. You make your own plans and can't use your mom to get out of hanging out with people anymore, either.
4. Grocery shopping
Not only do you have to get to the grocery store yourself, but sometimes (or every time, depending on your situation) you have to shop by yourself too. You have to figure out what is actually worth more than three dollars. You have to be able to check to see if any eggs are broken, you have to choose organic or not, you have to find ripe fruit and veggies. Suddenly, we're just supposed to know how to make all those decisions.
5. Bills are real, and they're terrifying
Maybe you only pay for your phone bill or your gas, maybe you're financially independent of your parents, maybe you've got loans to worry about. Do you remember when your parents would have "discussions" about bills and budgeting? Yeah. That's you now.
6. You can order food without panicking
Ordering food can be really stressful, but somehow, when you become an adult, you can just do it. You know how to say what you want, and you know how to ask the right questions. Adults can handle that stuff like it's their day job, but when you're 12, it is so intimidating.
7. Scheduling your own doctors' appointments
You need to know your schedule, you need to know how to get to the doctor, you have to know your family's medical history, you need to be able to describe your symptoms, you have to make some medical decisions for yourself. If you want to really test your independence and ability to be an adult, throw yourself in a doctor's office and see how you do.
8. When you can actually open a new box of cereal with ease
PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one who used to hopelessly rip either the box or the bag every time I opened a box of cereal? Being able to make a clean tear has been one of my greatest accomplishments since becoming an adult.
9. When you get a credit card and you feel like Frodo
So much power....All of Middle Earth relies on you.... But maybe you can splurge once and pay it off in a couple months...
10. You can book your own hotel room!!!!
The implications of that power are pretty similar to the risks of having a credit card...
11. You can put a fitted sheet on your bed by yourself
Do you remember sprawling on your bed, trying to put all four corners of the sheet around the corners of your bed at the same time? It was an impossible task. All of a sudden, being an adult means that fitted sheets require little to no effort (Don't ask me how that works).
12. Having to make calls when something is broken
Maybe you have to call the utilities for your apartment, maybe you just need to call IT services for your laptop...Either way, mom and dad aren't there to talk to all the people and fix all your problems.
13. Enjoying HGTV weekend specials
Your fantasy is no longer owning a horse farm or being a superhero, it's having coordinating wall paint and chestnut cupboards.
14. You get excited about vacuum cleaners
Not just vacuum cleaners, also dishwashers, refrigerators, no-stick frying pans, washing machines and dryers, etc. Let's just say you would rather get a KitchenAid mixer for Christmas than new clothes.
15. Your friends start to get married
16. You don't know any of the new slang
17. Staying in on the weekends is a no-brainer
A cup of tea, Netflix, and going to bed early.
18. You actually dry-clean your dry-clean-only clothes
You actually care how your clothes are washed now, and you're in charge of doing it yourself.
19. You become an aunt or uncle
This could happen at any age, but it starts to happen especially as you become an adult.
20. Having to buy toilet paper
There are some staple items that you don't realize are really important until you're paying for them yourself, toilet paper being one. Other examples are trash bags, light bulbs, and hand soap. You have to decide how luxurious you want those necessities to be. You start to realize that your mom had to actually go out and buy these things. There wasn't an eternal supply in your house. And now you are the supplier.
21. "You know who you are"
Te Fiti totally gets what becoming an adult can do to you. But let Moana remind you, too: You know who you are. You know what you believe, you know what you value the most, you know who you want to be, and you won't let anyone change that
