Many at first sight of the title are already to begin to think, " But, you are an adult..." but that is where so many people in this world are wrong. I , and other my age, are not already adults,we are becoming adults. Let me explain.

Our entire lives we are asked, "what are you going to be when you grow up?", many of us as children say, " A doctor", or," A firefighter" , or maybe even ," An Astronaut" , but as we grow and mature so do our dreams and those answers become more defined and evolve into answers like," I want to open my own bakery", or ," I am going to be an accountant" . These are the answers we give in middle school and high school. Then in the blink of an eye its your senior year of high school and its time to make some of the biggest decisions of your life. For example;Are you going to college, and if so a 2 year or a 4 year, what are you going to major in, what school are you going to go to, how do you plan on paying for this, are you going to live on campus or on campus, if off campus, are you going to get a job, are you going you have a roommate?

So many people at this stage of their senior year aren't even 18 yet, but it is their responsibility to make the decisions that are going to better their future, and I know for a fact, that so many questions can cause quite the panic for someone who solely depends on their parents at that point in their life. I don't know about you all, but for me at 17 , this was the scariest thing I had ever had to do thus far in my life.

Fast forward to the beginning of your sophomore year of college, you've started taking classes that are specifically for your major and you find you absolutely loathe every single one of them. You try and tough it out , thinking that it's solely because its school, but eventually you come to the realization that its not because of that and it is, because the major you chose is clearly not for you and you really need to make some changes.

For some ,those next steps towards change may include dropping out and finding another path of life that better suits them. For others those steps include finding a major that fits them better and changing their major to whatever that may be. After making those changes you find your self so much happier in your daily life because you are finally doing what makes YOU happy and its the best decision you could have ever made.

But of course, as life goes, things can only be so good for so long. While you are attending school, you also have a job which sometimes requires you to wake up early. But, the dorm life does not always allow for a full night of good sleep ,when people are running up and down the hallways screaming and yelling. That is the moment you realize you need to make another decision and find yourself an apartment. Which you also find is not the easiest thing to do. After months of searching you finally find a place that you can afford, but its farther from your job and from campus than you had originally anticipated,and yet again you are stuck asking your self the same questions; can I afford this? how much is gas going to be? can I manage this? while you are trying to figure all of this out your parents are also breathing down your back asking the same things. Eventually you tell them yes, just to get them off your back and move into that apartment still questioning if you can actually do this.

After a while of living on your own, school is just about to start up again, so you take a leave of absence from work to focus on school and plan on living off of what you made that summer. But you know that money is not going to last long, so now on top of everything else you have to find a job that is going to work around your school schedule. When you finally do, its not the most ideal job, and you definitely would have not applied for it if you didn't need money, but you did , so you made a personal sacrifice. With that personal sacrifice you must remind yourself, every day you go to work ,that its for the money and nothing more.

Based on the fact that you are mainly supporting yourself ,with little to no support from your parents you find your self asking questions like do I really need lunch today? and if I do buy lunch, can I still afford my rent? Most days than not, the answer is no. The sad truth behind this is that its not because we are "adults" contrary to popular belief, it is because we are struggling to balance a full time or almost full time job as well as school and all the homework that comes with it.

Christmas break has come about and you ask your boss for some time off ,so you can go see your family ,who you haven't seen in months. You can barely afford to make the trip, but you make it work. When you get there you are imminently berated with questions about school and your life. Hows school going? whats your major again? You may also decide to give your opinion on a conversation and you immediately get belittled with, "oh honey , you just don't know." but the funny thing is , you do know, because the conversation had a direct tie to your area of study. But, you smile and nod your head yes, because you've realized your family still does not see you as an adult and or an equal. Which makes you question if half the people you deal with on a daily basis do as well.

This is the most pivotal moment in any persons life from the age of 18 to maybe even your 30's. This is the moment you've realized that you are not an adult, but you are still becoming one. that this is not something that happens over night, but it is a very long and drawn out process much like metamorphosis. Throughout metamorphosis there are many steps that must be taken in order for that caterpillar to become that beautiful butterfly. In comparison it is much like the process of becoming an adult, it is not something that happens over night,but is long and tedious and each persons process is different because we all turn out differently.Therefore, the day you turn 18 you are not an adult, but you have begun the process of becoming one.