I have been in college for a total of two and a half years and I have learned many a lesson. However, the biggest lesson I have learned is this: you have to grow up. It’s a fact of life. For my first two years of university, I lived at home, didn’t pay for a meal plan, and had a wonderful mother who did my laundry and did the grocery shopping. All things considered, I wasn’t necessarily forced into adulthood. Now that I am living on my own in a city 350 miles away from home and taking care of myself, I realize one thing: adulthood happens and there is nothing you can do about it.

Something I’ve seen floating around the Internet lately is this: “Peter Pan was right.” All they mean by that is that adulthood really does kinda suck and being a free youngster is always the better option. However, if you don’t accept your new responsibility, realize how accountable you have to be, and step into your new role as an adult, you’re going to fall flat on your face. There’s nothing more terrifying than refusing to accept responsibility and seeing the disappointing results pile up.

Adulting is something that we all have to do at some point in our lives for a majority of our lives. Being adults means many things: doing your own laundry, paying your rent, making it to work on time, doing your homework, cooking decent meals, going grocery shopping, cleaning your living space, planning your life, and making sure you’re taking care of yourself. At first glance, those things can sound pretty scary. Making your own money, paying for things yourself, and taking care of yourself can be daunting - if you make it that way. In reality, adulting is just having decent enough organizational skills to manage your time and abilities. Some people don’t have awesome organizational skills but that doesn’t mean you’re doomed. It just means you have to put in the extra effort and dedicate yourself enough to your tasks.

In 1 Corinthians 13:11, it says, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (NKJV) In other words, we are allowed to act like children when we are children. When we become adults, however, we need to put away those things and accept our new role.

It’s not impossible. It just means you’re realizing that you are a mature person, you have responsibilities, and the world sees you as the adult you are. It just takes time, many miniature existential crises, and coffee.