Imagine it's Tuesday. There is nothing special about this Tuesday. You wake up, do your morning routine, go to work, attend class, eat lunch, and suddenly you are on your way to lease a house with three of your closest friends. Caution: adulthood approaching, and apparently at an exponential speed.
It is one of those things you don't even realize is coming until it hits you like a brick wall. Talking to the realtor made me wish my father was with me. I had no clue what questions to ask, whether to ask for a lower rent or even what to bring to sign a lease. Moreover, does it really make a difference whether the washing machine and dryer are upstairs or in the slightly creepy cement basement that looks like it came straight out of "Extracts from Gosschen's Diary"?
The pressure of relying on someone else (in my case, my three closest friends) is terrifying. I can barely trust myself not to trip on nothing, and now I am sharing the responsibility of an entire house with people. Who will be in charge of washing the dishes? Vacuuming (a task my dog hates as vehemently as I do)? Making sure everyone chips in for the utility bill?
These are all things I have never had to worry about before. I knew what I was supposed to do and did it. Now I find myself wondering how taxes actually work and how many hours I will have to work to be able to pay for my house. School does not always prepare you to face the real world. The quadratic formula in no way helped me figure out what a W-2 was or how to fill it out.
Adulthood is scary and approaching faster than I would like to admit, and I easily ignore it by dancing on the weekends and studying hard on the weekdays. But the concept glares in the back of my mind like an annoying tapping noise. It becomes clear that I am at college to prepare for a future career and to enter a world in which leases, money, and taxes will fill my thoughts.
So to all my young people out there: adulthood is approaching, and it will come faster than you think. Go out, have fun, and take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way. Make friends and love every minute of it; later you may find yourself leasing a house with them. I am thrilled to start my journey into adulthood with the best people in the world at my side, yet the concept of such responsibility is daunting.
Cheers to the last of my teenage months, to leasing a house, to my friends, to my family, and to the taxes I will eventually learn how to do.
