I thought I would have it all under control. I thought adulting meant doing your own laundry, making food occasionally, cleaning up after yourself, and going to work but sadly that is only a small fraction of the responsibility a real adult has to do. There was no warning about all the liabilities it would come with and how suddenly you are responsible for 500 billion more things than you signed up for.
No one told me that being an adult was easy, in fact I would run out of fingers and toes if I had to count how many times my mom told me, “Being an adult is not as easy and fun as it looks.” Instead of believing my mother, I thought that I was ready to take on the real world and I was ready to wear the grown-up pants. My first grown up decision was accepting my offer at an out-of-state university. My initial thought was that being 1,727 miles away from my parents meant that I was “adulting,” but that idea was quickly thrown out the window as my bank account ran dry after just a few weeks. I had to turn to my parents and start asking for allowance because my to-do list and shopping list starts piling up and money was flowing out faster than I would be receiving it. That’s when I learned my first “adulting” lesson; “Adulting meant being financially responsible.” I learned the hard way to differentiate between my wants and needs and trust me, there are times that I don’t regret eating baby carrots for lunch and dinner after purchasing a makeup palette or a new pair of Nikes.
This summer I was fortunate enough to land two paid accounting internships, which meant I wouldn’t be going back home, laying on the couch exhaling CO2 and inhaling all the food in the pantry. I had work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday thru Friday, and sometimes I even get to work overtime! That is 8 or more hours of sitting in front of a computer screen every work day. Even though I am sitting all day, I wouldn’t have the energy to make myself a proper dinner by the time I got home from work. If I remembered correctly, the first two weeks I ate hot pockets and frozen corn dogs for dinner every night and the microwave was my best friend. That lifestyle soon took a toll on me, I was not as fit as I was before, I was constantly getting sick and not getting any healthier and overall I was a mess. The only upside was that I didn’t have any dishes to clean. After a while I decided that I was going to work out after work every day, no matter how tired I was. I also managed to ditch all the microwavable foods and started to consume only fruits and vegetables. My daily routine soon changed to work from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. , workout from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., dinner from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. , and I was ready for bed by 8:30 p.m.. From the outside, this schedule might look dull and boring, especially for the summer, but for me it felt full and draining. I had set shows to watch on certain days, set days to go grocery shopping, and set days to do laundry. I was living as if I was a grandma with 70 cats. So here comes “Adulting” lesson number 2, “Adulting means you are going to have a somewhat boring life, but at least you are in charge of it because no one is going to be there to tell you if you don’t do laundry tomorrow you will run out of clean undies.” Soon you will realize that partying pass 11:00 p.m. will make you grumpy because it is pass your bedtime, and that Wine Wednesday will turn into wine everyday.
From the time I started “adulting” till now, I realized something. I realized that I was calling my parents a lot more often than I thought I would be. The even more surprising thing is, I was calling them more than they were calling me. And, no, I wasn’t calling them to ask for money, though that did happen once or twice, but I was calling them to get advice on which health insurance to pick, whether or not I should buy a car, applying for a credit card and how to make certain dishes that I miss eating. In a weird way, as I grow older, I started to miss my parents nagging at me and calling me to make sure I was doing the dishes and my laundry, locking the door at night, and just little reminders here and there. As I grow older, they start to expect me to remember to do all that without any reminders. I started using the word “adulting” less and less, I used to say I was adulting after buying groceries for the week. Slowly, every “adulting” thing seemed like it was a part of my daily routine, but there is always going to be new challenges popping out of nowhere as an adult. You will have to start paying for things you didn’t even know existed before, like renters insurance. and sometimes you feel like you are living in a shack even though you are paying 650 dollars a month. A car seemed like a nice choice of investment until someone smashes your window and steals your valuables, not to mention you have to pay to fix that window. Adulting lesson numero trois, “Adulting doesn’t get easier, but it becomes more or less normal.” When we have fully stopped using the word “adulting” that’s when we will actually become an adult, but as of right now all I can say is “adulting” isn’t getting any easier but at least I am doing it.
The last and the most important lesson of “adulting” is, “You can’t run or hide from it, just slowly accept it.” We all have to grow up one day, whether we like it or not. There are going to be times when we want to whine and go back to when nap time was a daily activity incorporated into our day, but we have to suck it up and power through. Becoming an adult isn’t a choice, it’s just a matter of when. One day or another we are going to have to go out to the scary real world and defend ourselves as if we are in the Hunger Games, but that’s in the future. So maybe we can start with the small things like doing our own laundry and buying our own groceries and then slowly progress to signing our first lease and then to paying our mortgage to our first homes.
