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Mentorship August 23, 2017
*makes bed once*
Most of the time when people use the word “adult” as a verb, they’re putting themselves down.
We all share, in some way, a common desire to never grow up.
People constantly say that they’re bad at adulting, or that they don’t know how to adult. But we are here to reassure you that you’re doing just fine. So stop worrying, and keep reading.
If you have ever done laundry, the dishes or cleaned your room or apartment without being told to do so by your mother, then congrats. You’ve successfully adulted.
Why is it that we are so critical of ourselves for being bad adults? Well, it could be that when we were children there seemed to be such a stark difference between kids and adults. In my experience, at least, as a kid I always thought there would be a day when I woke up as an adult.
That clearly isn’t something that actually happens in real life.
We all too often criticize ourselves for not knowing how to do things that we believe all adults know how to do. But we are here to show you why people are wrong when they say there are certain things adults should know how to do.
Changing a tire? No thanks. We have AAA for that. So don’t spend your time worrying about how you’re a bad adult because you can’t fix your car. There’s literally an app for that.
Urban Dictionary defines the word “adulting” as “to do grown up things and hold responsibilities such as a 9-5 job, a mortgage/rent, a car payment, or anything else that makes one think of grown ups.”
When I picture myself as a pre-schooler, I realize that I definitely did think of all of those descriptions as things only adults do. But now that I myself am an adult, I’ve realized that’s not entirely true.
Because you really don’t need a 9 to 5 job to correctly adult. In fact, there are about a million non-traditional jobs that you can look into nowadays. Basically, there’s no right way to be an adult. No two people are the same, so why do we think there’s only one way to correctly be an adult?
The answer is, there isn’t. There are infinite ways to be an adult, and we are confident that even if you’re doing it differently than your friends, you’ll still turn out fine.
Being an adult is overrated. You should still be able to have a good time and goof around without being thought of as immature. Adults who are settled down and have their life together are often thought to be boring. But we believe that you can be an adult and have fun, too. So stop criticizing yourself for not “adulting” well enough. It’s not going to help you at all.
If you still think paying your taxes is putting together a small package and tossing it in the mailbox like Homer Simpson did, it’s okay. Your time will come to correctly learn how to pay taxes. And trust us, you’re more of an adult now than Homer Simpson will ever be.
Whatever it is that you’re doing, you’re probably fine and should stop worrying. Because worrying too much will cause wrinkles. And while having wrinkles will probably stop people from ever mistaking you for anything besides an adult, you probably wouldn’t be too happy.
If you step back and take a look at yourself and your life, chances are you won’t say to yourself, “I haven’t changed at all since I was five.” We could be wrong, but you’ve probably aged and matured at least a little bit.
Adulting is basically all an illusion. It’s just a term that we all throw around nowadays without really even thinking about what it means. When you hit a certain age, you become an adult. Whether or not you’re somewhat responsible, you’re still an adult if you’re 18 or older.
Whatever path you may be following in life, everything will end up working out. Even if it doesn’t feel like it now, you will survive and go on to be a very successful adult. Some kids might even ask you for help, correctly thinking that you’re a responsible adult.
Even if you don’t see yourself as an adult, we can reassure you that when you were a little kid looking at all these adults around you, they also doubted themselves. The only real way to successfully adult is to fake it until you make it. If you at least present the illusion that you have your life together, chances are, people will believe you.
So stop being so hard on yourself. It usually just makes you sounds like you’re fishing for compliments. And nobody likes that person. You’re definitely better off than most people in terms of being responsible and having your life together.
There’s always going to be someone who has their life less together than you do. So until you become that person, you can just sit back and relax.
If you need to hear it again, you’re doing great. You’re an adult, so start being proud of it.
