College is not the real world; not for me, anyway. Yes, I have a pretty good job managing a boutique in my college town, and I'm making decent money. But I don't pay for rent, bills, or groceries. Right now, I'm living at home and letting my parents take care of me. When I graduate and have to move out of my parent's house, I'm on my own. They're going to push me out of the bird's nest and expect me to fly. Whether I am able to fly or not is up to me. That's when the real world, or the grown-up world, I should say, begins for me. Where have the first 20 years of my life gone? I'm not even 21 yet and I'm stressing about my future. I need a pause button, and fast.
Learning to save money is a lot harder than I would have thought. People used to tell me that "When it's your own money, you'll learn how to save." I haven't found that to be true yet. My mom was never a big shopper, and neither was my sister, so we didn't do it much. Now that I'm making my own money, I like to shop. I'm a fashion merchandising major, so it's research, right? Lately, I've started to realize what saving money actually means. It means that when I graduate and move out on my own, I don't have to worry about how I'm going to pay rent each month if I can't find a job right away. It also means that I won't have to live off one orange for three days.
Another scary thought is having to work a work a nine to five job five days a week. Sure, I have a job now, but I'm working three to four days a week and I can take time off whenever I want. If I'm running late one morning, I will just text the other person working and let them know I won't be in for a while. It won't be like that when I get a real job. I'll have to be on time every day. We'll have meetings and agendas and I'll have a 401k, whatever that is.
Don't even get me started on getting married and having children. I can hardly take care of myself, let alone a tiny human.
Everyone is always talking about how exciting it's going to be to start a life, to find a career, and to get married. I just don't know if I'm ready for that. Sure, I like to browse through the home decor category on Pinterest and pin my dream home, but it can wait. For now, I'm not ready for the "real" world. I like being in college and being able to shop when I want and not have to worry about how I'm going to start paying for rent. I'll learn to be an adult a little at a time. I guess two years is enough time for that.
