How were our parents 22 with a house and kids? Next month I will be turning 22 and I am still eating Honey Nut Cheerios out of the box because it is finals week. Exploring adulthood is scary, but I somehow still feel like a child.
If a kid got lost in a store they'd ask me for help and I'd go find an adult to help us make sense of the situation. Exploring the new emotions I have as an adult are scarier than those I had as a pre-teen and I feel this is because the choices I make now will directly affect the rest of my life.
If I feel anxious about a presentation or even buying my own groceries, then how will I ever become an adult? How will I master these feelings of uncertainty or anxiety? I believe we don't ever master it and I don't think our parents ever did either.
As we advance in the different stages in our lives I realize that we are all making it up as we go along and that just as there is no book for parenting (as everyone says) there is no book that tells you how to live YOUR life. There are books that tell you how to possibly live life, but these are all based on experiences of their own version.
Life is scary, finals are frightening, debt is crippling, love is uncertain, and all these things that we are expected to do at a "certain" age are unrealistic standards given to us by society and our parents.
As much as we love them and admire them, I don't think I'll be married at 22 with kids like my father was. I don't think that I'll be married before I complete my studies, and I really don't think that I'll ever make my own dentist appointments. That's why I have my mom!
Yes, "adulting" is scary, and I secretly enjoy eating Cheerios straight out of the box, but I don't think I'll let myself be pressured by someone else's milestones. Mine are coming, and one day I'll be able to look back at this article with a cereal box in one hand and my phone in the other talking to my mom about my upcoming dentist appointment (because some things never change) and be — or at least feel — like an adult.
Until then I'll bask in the anxiety and insecurity that comes with growing into an adult.
