I remember being a little girl and playing house with my younger sister. Inside of our plastic playhouse we imagined cooking each other food without plastic play food. As I grew up, I learned how to cook real recipes rather than mudpies; and I learned how to tidy my family's real living area. Way less fun.
Years passed and now I have less than a year until I turn twenty. Let me tell you, growing up is terrifying. It's much more than budgeting my quarters for a new Barbie doll now. It has become budgeting my paychecks in hopes of a new car, moving into my own apartment, and paying for college. I'm sure, however, I'm not the only twenty-something-year-old who has irrational fears about "adulting."
As I walked out of work today, I began making a mental list of these concerns.
Laments of a young adult who can't "adult" --
First of all, everybody tells me to love myself and take care of myself, but I'm surrounded by nonstop media about junk food and binge drinking. And I'm constantly being asked when I'm going to settle down and get married. What's the rush? Why is my Twitter feed full of oh-so-tempting pictures of pizza instead of fruit? Why am I always on Twitter and not exercising?
Speaking of exercising, it sucks. Wheezing, jiggling, and sweating like a pig is not fun at all. The last place I want to do that is in front of other people at a gym. And the last thing I want to do is PAY to do all of that in front of other people at a gym. Ew.
While we're talking about things I don't want to pay for, let me express how scary car payments, house payments, grocery bills, and all of that junk is. SCARY. Capital S C A R Y. And then there's taxes. I have no idea how to do my taxes! I have no money management skills at all, if we're going to be honest. I blame Pitbull and Ne-Yo. "You know my rent was gonna be late about a week ago..." shouldn't be musically drilled into my brain as an OK idea.
Furthermore, there should be more specific product labels. It was a sad day in my dorm room when I realized mixing evaporated milk and water doesn't make milk and that fabric softener doesn't double as detergent. Speaking of detergent, don't even get me started on laundry. The laundry fairy from my parents' house didn't follow me to young adulthood, and I dearly miss her.
There are many other woes of growing up I could share. Whether it's wearily setting my alarm for an hour before noon, or realizing that everything has a price tag, being an adult is certainly not everything that childhood me had in mind.
However, I know my future is bright, if I can just survive and figure out these twenty-something-year-old years.
Comment some of your young adult laments, and share to your 20-something year old friends! Have a good week, and remember, time flies! Make all of these crazy moments count.
