Adulthood: When it hits, you're filled with both the excitement that comes with starting a new chapter in life and the depression that comes with the loss of your youth and needing to forge the image of having your life together so you don't feel like a loser.
However, there are many small victories that occur in the daily life of a new adult. Here's a list of 10 things that make us feel much more adult than they should.
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1. Paying off the first $50 of your student loans
Yes, that's a whole 0.3% of my whole student loan payment. Hold your applause, I know you're impressed.
2. Getting invited to weddings and baby showers
While you may be super pumped because you’re part of the “getting married and having babies” generation, you may not be the one actually getting married and having babies. It can be a little depressing, but least being in your friends' weddings is kind of fun!
3. Getting an app for literally every area of your life
Checklists? Budgets? Coupons? Color-coded calendar? Nap timer? I've got them all.
4. Sitting in Starbucks on your laptop
I like to dress up nice and take my laptop to Starbucks when I want to be productive. I may just be doing my annual spring cleaning on my Pinterest boards, but at least I look super put-together and that's enough to make me feel like a proper adult.
5. Running errands
Maybe you went to the store with five items on your shopping list and left with only two of those items plus 12 other things you didn't really need, but you used coupons so it all cancels out. Bonus points if you can make it through your whole trip without having to talk to anyone (thank God for self check-outs).
6. Not having ice cream for dinner two nights in a row
There is a powerful feeling that comes with being able to eat ice cream for dinner to prove to yourself that you're an adult and can do whatever you want, but it takes great strength to be able to not do that twice in a row.
7. Making doctors appointments and dealing with insurance companies by yourself
During midterms my junior year of college, I had to schedule a major surgery for myself. Yes I got it scheduled, but it cost me two failed exams and a mental breakdown because I kept getting different answers from different people and ended up playing phone tag with women who talked to me like I was five and didn't know how insurance worked. Wouldn't it just be easier to avoid the doctor and hope I didn't die?
8. Any time you’re treated like an actual adult by older adults
There's this awful span of time after you turn 18 when you're too old for your parents to do things for you, but too young for literally anyone to take you seriously. Those rare moments when older adults don't talk down to you are golden.
9. Graduating from watching Spongebob to watching more quality T.V. shows
Just kidding, that'll never happen.
10. Doing anything without your parents asking you first
If you're living at home rent-free, simple things like doing the dishes, doing your family's laundry and cleaning your room makes you feel like a responsible contributor to your household, especially if you do them before your parents even have to ask you to. It's just practice for when you can afford to move out!
Even though they feel small and insignificant, you have to hold onto those little adult victories, because they are the little things that give you the confidence to do the bigger adulty things later. For now, we can keep eating ice cream for dinner and watching Spongebob while pretending along with the rest of the world that we know what we're doing in life.
