Adulting is hard, trust me, I know this. Does anyone else remember growing up with grand notions of what it means to be an adult and all of the “cool” things you get to do that you are refused as a kid? Yeah. Why did no one tell me that being an adult is not what I thought it would be? Here are some things no one tells you about being an adult.
Being financially responsible is really hard. As a teenager we get an allowance and spend it at the movies, or on CDs or clothing. As an adult we have to work our butts off for paychecks and use every bit of them to pay rent, utilities, cable, cell phone bills, credit cards, car insurance… the list goes on. What happened to movies and shopping? It is a thing of the past my friends, now we must budget.
Your credit score is a real thing and it actually means something. Student loans, car loans, mortgages, credit cards… All of these things require a good credit score. You don’t just have a good credit score to start with either, you have to build it up by establishing credit and then you have to keep it up by paying everything on time and keeping your balances low. If your credit falls to a certain point you lose the ability to borrow money for all of the important things. Seriously, why did no one explain this to me?
Relationships become much more complicated. Friends drift apart and get married and have kids and other priorities. Significant others move in with you and then you fight about money, and work, and how you hate that they leave their dirty socks in every room of the house. It’s not always fun, it actually takes work.
Your body just starts to fall apart. Did you hear that? Because I just got up and every joint in my body cracked. It was loud. You probably heard it. While we are on the topic, a hangover now lasts for 3 days and results from much less alcohol consumption than it used to. And when you feel like crap you still have to go to work, because you’re a responsible adult now. So, there’s that.
Time goes by so much faster. Do you remember how long it took to turn 18, and then to turn 21? It felt like forever. Well I just turned 32 and I’m pretty sure my 27th birthday just happened a few months ago. It’s like dog years.
All of the above little gems aside, it’s kind of awesome to grow up too. You get to do a lot more cool things, you (hopefully) get to work at a job you really love, doing something that makes you feel incredibly fulfilled, and you don’t have to ask for a grown-ups permission to order from infomercials at 3am. Increased responsibility aside, it’s kind of fun.
Your website is helpful. Im going through pains myself. I miss college and how you can have people close to you. I also miss how successful you can be in college.