Anytime I am on social media I am guaranteed to see one of my friend’s post a meme about how well they are “adulting”. I always get a good chuckle out of these posts and share the same feeling that I am not handling adult responsibilities in the right way. I realized I have never put much thought into the responsibilities I have and how well I manage them. So, I decided to take a journey down my own “adulting” road to see how I am holding up.
The first thing that came to my mind was that I manage to have my own place and keep it in living condition. Sure, sometimes the sink gets filled with dishes but it has never gotten out of control and somehow resulted in me breaking my neck. I don’t know exactly how that situation would arise but the point is I must not be doing too bad if I have not received bodily harm from it. I have been able to live on a budget for several years that has gotten me through most of college. I haven’t had a late rent payment, I have been able to keep up on my bills, and still buy groceries every month with a little extra for emergencies. I don’t have a 401 (k) plan, so I guess I am failing in that department.
When it comes to the everyday responsibilities, I got those down. I know how to wash my clothes and I do it! I am guilty of sometimes wearing the same clothing for consecutive days, but I always do the smell test first. I can make homemade meals for myself. I am proud of this one because when I first started living on my own I had to look up how to boil an egg. I take no shame in admitting it because it was a stepping stone for me to cooking dinner every night.
Overall, I don’t think I am doing bad at adulting. It is the little successes that are celebrated in “adulting” memes and we should appreciate them. I don’t think a lot of people are sucking at it as gloriously as they believe. It is nice to ease the stress by making fun of the responsibilities that seem to take over our lives at times.
I have seen people complain about the recent trend of the term “adulting” and how it glorifies the accomplishment of mundane everyday tasks and takes away from bigger accomplishments, like at work. I don’t see the problem with that. A lot of young adults grow up without learning how to cook meals for themselves now, so if you managed to learn how to cook for yourself, celebrate it! Just because someone never knew how a laundry machine worked until recently does not mean that they are incompetent at their job. We are conditioned to work, some might think that giving a great presentation is a more important accomplishment in the week than staying on your grocery budget. That is understandable but not that special when you have been giving presentations since middle school and were never taught anything about budgeting.
It is great for someone to acquire new skills in life and people are acknowledging the ones that they missed out on gaining, while society focused on making us job ready, with the trend “adulting”. If you don’t feel like you are “adulting” perfectly, don’t worry none of us are, but don’t be afraid to feel good about your adulting accomplishments.
