You don't just wake up in the morning and look in the mirror to find that you aged ten years. You don’t realize that your brain suddenly thinks about things in a completely different way. You don’t comprehend that the world has evolved. You don’t recognize that you aren’t even remotely the same person anymore.

I think we can all admit at one time or another in out adolescence that we wished we could fast forward a couple years in our life. “13 Going on 30” showed us that growing up isn’t necessarily as rewarding as it seems. “Freaky Friday” illustrated the responsibilities that adulthood requires. “17 Again” portrayed the difficulty of reliability, marriage, and sacrifice. Yet, despite all these warnings, we still wanted to grow up.

Growing up is all fun and games until you’re actually grown up. That’s when reality hits, and it hits hard. Adulthood can be defined as being fully developed and mature. While it is apparent that most people still lack maturity, it is overwhelming how many responsibilities are accompanied with adulthood.

Being an adult is taking the bus to and from work, and paying for that dang Orca card. It’s cooking yourself dinner each night. It’s going grocery shopping. It’s paying the $1.25 to do laundry. It’s buying and scheduling your own plane tickets. It’s taking your computer to the Apple store when it isn’t working correctly. It’s choosing your major. It’s finding an internship. It’s picking a career path. It’s learning how to deal with diverse people. It’s finding happiness in unexpected places. It’s leaving behind ghosts of the past. It’s taking out the trash, washing the dishes, and making your bed. It’s taking yourself to the doctor when you aren’t feeling like yourself. It’s learning to be independent.

Life is expensive. Life is overwhelming. Life is nothing like we expected. Gone are the days of Mom’s homemade soup. Gone are the days of taking the family car to school and work. Gone are the days of Dad writing a note to get you out of class. You have to take care of yourself when you’re sick. You have to catch the bus in time to get to work. You have to walk to class. You have to go to school, because if you don’t, you’ll fall behind.

We thought we were adults in high school. We thought becoming legal on our 18th birthday meant adulthood. But, we were so wrong. You don’t realize how unprepared for the real world you are until you are actually forced to live on your own.

Discovering that you have become an adult doesn’t just happen in a moment. You don’t just wake up in the morning and feel like a different person all of a sudden. Change is progressive, however the realization that you have changed occurs when you expect it the least. One day you’ll be riding the bus on your way to your 9-5 job and you’ll realize that you aren’t the same person you used to be. It’s crazy how fast time flies when you’re dreaming about the future.