There are a lot of milestones that occur when you become an "adult": first car, first apartment, first real job, first paycheck, etc. We look forward to them, thinking these events will establish us as members of the real world and push us out of the nest of childhood. However, once we get there, we cannot stop complaining about how hard this new life is while we eat takeout we can't afford. To most millennials, that is what happens when we become an adult. I'm only one person riding on this struggle bus, but let me propose an alternative definition.
This month marked some of those adult milestones that we so desperately try to reach. I moved into my first apartment with moderate success, I started two new jobs, and am now living in one of my favorite cities in the world. I know that people say college is the first time where you strike out on your own, but I dare to disagree. It is when you can separate yourself from the fish bowl of campus life (even if you still have a year to go at school). Having finally accomplished this, I was excited to begin my new life as a freshly minted, full-fledged adult.
Then, life decided to hit me with a harsh dose of reality.
According to astrology, the chance for tragedy to strike is increased when Mercury goes into "retrograde". Now, I don't know what that means and I am not the biggest believer in what the stars tell me. What I will say is that after the week I had, I might need to put a little more sway into the cosmos. Let's get the highlights.
Monday- Pulled over by an overzealous cop who gave me a warning for running a red light (even though I was in the intersection while the light was still yellow).
Tuesday- Tire exploded at half past midnight while driving home from an all night diner, having to play phone tag with AAA and my mom, the AAA van not finding us until 2 a.m., and getting lost trying to get home because construction work closed down the exit that I take to get back to my apartment.
Wednesday- Dropping $500 to get my tires changed and finding out that I need to spend $500 more on replacing my brakes.
Thursday- Going to try and get the brakes replaced and realizing that they don't have the parts so I have to come back at 9 a.m. on my day off from work to get it done.
Yeah, I wouldn't say that this has been the best start to the summer.
Now, I see myself as a person who likes to take the opportunity to find the good in a bad situation. Naturally, I applied that philosophy to this series of unfortunate events and managed to find some gold in the sand.
Life is going to happen no matter how much planning you do. Not every little incident is going to be the biggest deal in the world. Yes, you will be sidetracked by them for a little bit. All you can do is take a deep breath, analyze the situation, and deal with it. Being an adult means realizing that you can handle what the world throws at you. It's going to take a while to get there. You might think that you are drowning in a sea of responsibility and coffee. It's going to be all right in the end. Just take it one day at a time.
