A·dult·ing:
Verb
1. Being a responsible adult. Used by immature 20-somethings who are proud of themselves for paying a bill.
Technically, I am not “adulting” yet. But May 13th is approaching fairly quickly, and that is when I am SUPPOSED to (apparently) embark on this next chapter of my life. In order to prepare myself for this whole “adulting” thing, I asked some of my “adulting” friends to offer some advice for all those in my shoes. Here are the most important (and some hilarious) responses that I got:
ONE: “Junk food and beer make you fat”
But how do you adult without those?? Especially the beer… AMIRIGHT?!
TWO: “We’re all just pretending to know what the eff we’re doing.. no one reallyyyy knows”
OOOOH, thank god.. But can everyone stop pretending because you’re making me feel like shit?! Thanks.
THREE: “You will have to work 10 x harder than everyone around you in order to prove that you’re not just another millennial with a degree & a dream”
FOUR: “Marrying someone rich isn’t a bad idea”
I’ll never admit who said this… let’s just say she didn’t marry rich 😉
FIVE: A little disagreement among some adulters:
Adulter 1: “Don’t settle down until you know yourself”
Adulter 2: “Sort of agree but I think people focus a lot on feeling ready and I don’t think you ever have that completely ready feeling.”
OK, go with whichever one you like better. Adulter 2 is my sister sooo, I’ll go with her 😉
SIX: “Bills are real”
Some of us learned this in college, but if you didn’t. WARNING: bills are real and due every month… bummer!
SEVEN: “Having good credit is everything in adulthood”
Not really sure what this means, how to do this, or why it’s “everything” …
But one of my more “mature” adulters gave this piece of advice… so let’s make sure we have good credit people.
EIGHT: “Start saving for your 75-year-old self.”
Ok, this is boring, seems kinda lame, but I guess we’ll thank ourselves later.
NINE: Adulter 1: “Your fridge gets disgusting if you don’t wipe it down 1-2 times a month.”
Adulter 2 added: “Pay special attention to the veggie drawer. A lone zucchini left at the bottom can ruin your Sunday”
TEN: “Little things happen all the time and they add the f up. You can pretend you have your adult budget figured out but until you are knee deep in adulting, you have no clue how much it costs to adult.”
ELEVEN: “The dentist isn’t an option….”
I mean…. Was it ever an option? But ok, yes.. go to the dentist adults.
TWELVE: “You are going to turn 30 wayyy sooner than you think and for some reason at age 30 if you don’t have your shit figured out, you WILL go into panic mode… Be ready”
THIRTEEN: “Don’t ask too many people for their opinions. It gets too fuzzy. Trust your gut. Have two really close friends that you trust.”
FOURTEEN: “You are actually busier post college. I was excited to not juggle work and school. In reality, I had way more time for friends and hobbies when I was a student. Can’t explain why or how, but it’s true. Life only gets fuller and busier as ‘adulting’ takes over!”
Yikes….. not really what I wanted to hear. This is reality though, people.
FIFTEEN: “You can’t decide if you admire someone until you have had a peak into their whole world. If someone seems successful at work, look at their non work life. If they are living in a way you admire there too, then they are the type of person to look up to. If you spend your time admiring: Person A) because they are bad ass at their job and loaded or Person B) because they are at all of the school events and soccer games you’re going to feel like a failure in your own life you can’t do all of those things. Find people who have a work/life balance to look up to. They are the people who are truly successful.”
WOAH. Shit just got real. But some really solid advice!
SIXTEEN: “Just because you’re done with school, doesn’t mean you’re adulting”
PHEW!!!! That’s what I like to hear…. I’ll hold off on the adulting then.
Thanks to all the ADULTERS who contributed. You all are kicking ass. To those of you about to start adulting, good luck & let’s be bad ass adulters together!