Growing up is hard. Ask my fellow millennials who time and again dwell on childhood nostalgia by rewatching Harry Potter too many times to be considered appropriate for an adult, and flushing away the anxiety of the grown-up world with iced mochas.
Gen Z’ers are also resistant to becoming adults, and you may wonder why. While people tend to put blame on the way these generations are, researchers point out that it’s not a developmental stage; it’s the economy.
There’s even a corner of Reddit titled “Adulting,” dedicated to those who’re “actively trying to be more of an adult.” Created back in 2015, the community is sharing anything from tips, victories and questions related to the complex world of adulthood and trust me, it sometimes feels like a work of art.
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Especially shoeboxes. I have to go thru my "stash" every once in a while and take them out to the recycling bin. They always seem to be good to have to store misc stuff in, but I rarely do.
There are plenty of reasons why some people don't want to grow up. For some, it's the fear of responsibility and the unknown. For others, it might be the comfort of childhood and the simplicity of life. And then there are those who just don't want to let go of the carefree days of youth.
No matter the reason, it's perfectly understandable why someone would want to hold on to their childhood for a little while longer. After all, growing up is hard work. And who can blame someone for wanting to take a break from all the adulting?
Others are doing the exact opposite and trying to find ways to grow up sooner and embrace their adulthood. The truth is it takes a lot to be a responsible, independent adult. It’s a good idea to start by accepting that adulthood is not perfect and that there will be ups and downs along the way.
Another way to embrace your adult self is to not wait for someone else to make you happy – focus on finding joy in your own life. Taking responsibility for your own happiness is quintessential. At the same time, learning to manage your finances, the earlier the better, is very important.
The last tip may sound pretty boring, but you’ll thank us later. Being proactive about your health is a must. Try to improve your diet, add exercise in your life, and get regular checkups. Adulthood is the time when you realize that there’s nothing more important than your health and wellbeing.
Pretty sure it was an extrovert masquerading as an introvert.
Then you have Rose and Jack on a piece of floating wreckage.... there was room for both of you!!!!
Having said that, researchers have noted that youth these days seem to delay their transition to adulthood. According to Nancy E. Hill, a developmental psychologist at Harvard University, it has more to do with being able to transition to the workforce than the perceived apathy of youth.
“Young people reach adult milestones later when jobs that lead to financial independence are scarce or require additional training. The well-paying manufacturing jobs that were abundant in the 1950s did not exist in the 1890s. In the early 1900s, the U.S. transitioned from a largely agrarian economy to an industrialized one, and many young adults moved from rural to urban areas in search of modern industrial jobs,” she explained in The Atlantic.
Good. There’s no reason for this anymore in 2022. (And don’t come at me with “oh yeah but men are more _____ and ____ than women, and women will probably be on their periods or something and women can’t pick up heavy boxes while pregnant so let’s not pay them properly) or whatever the current argument is. Just no 😊)
Having said that, Hill argues that young adults are not less mature today than in the past. “Neither are they necessarily more self-centered. A new developmental stage is not necessary to account for the extended time that many youth need to make the transition to adulthood,” she argues.
“Our findings tell us something important: When young adults take longer to achieve the markers of adulthood, it is not that something has changed about them; it is that the world has changed,” Hill concluded.
I was just thinking earlier today how I'd talk to my friends on the phone for hours when I was a kid. What in the world did we talk about for so long? Now I only answer the phone if it's my boss or a call I'm expecting.
I thought I was the only one getting excited over this...my SO keeps telling me I am lol
My biggest realisation/adult moment was that the teaspoon I threw in the sink last night is still there in the morning.
I don't remember the exact date and time when I went from "OH, BOY! The PHONE!" to "Damn, what now?" Haven't been excited about the phone for years now . . .
When You Have A Big Project At Work But Choose To Reorganize Your Desk, Clean-Up Your Email, And Perfect Your Voicemail Greeting Instead
Lol. Like, during the weekend, I start doing something I've been meaning to do. But I get side-tracked on so many tangents that at the end of the day, I find I never finished what I originally started out to do.
I haven’t raw dogged some shuteye in way too long, I relate to this :(
Yup. Grew up with a friend that became a 2nd grade teacher at age 27 and she parties HARD, I’ve personally dragged her home at 2am like “you have to hang out with a bunch of 8 year olds tomorrow, you need your wits about you ” hahaha (before some of you start picking this apart, she’s fantastic honestly, definitely handles her business at all times and is very professional but just likes to live her life on the wild side)
Learn to play an instrument. Learn to sew. Learn to garden. Learn to dance.
This one reminds me of a Family Circus comic. The little boy is sitting on his bed in his underwear and shirt, holding his pants on and he says, "You mean I have to get dressed every day for the rest of my life?"
Start doing some stuff..read, travel locally, walk, raise plants, learn a language, volunteer, go to garage sales..it helps
No Darling you wait for it .....your knees go out ,your back ,you fart and poop with ease , your feet grow ,your earlobes have more hair than the top of your head you cough and have to run for the bathroom, thank God your still alive while father time starts picking off your friends other than that you pray that you remember where you put your teeth ,as well as remember you DONT have a cat , stay tuned for bol. 2,3,4,5,6,
Watch St Elmo's Fire. It's about burnt out 20-something's trying to manage adulthood. It won't help or fix you, but the cast is full of beautiful people royally messing up their lives and putting the pieces back together-ish.
So I avoided work as much as I was able. I was single a good portion of my adult life and have no kids, so my life has been my own. Now that I'm retired, many things are so much better. I hardly have to drive places any more. I gas up every other month. If I want to sleep in, I do. If I want to stay up, I fall asleep. Aches and pains are worse but if it's too bad, screw getting out of bed. Life has been good.
I have 2,5 years until I retire. It will pass quickly, you may think. But imagine it's a prison sentence ... suddenly, 2,5 years seems a very long time!
I wish that, before you were born, you learned how challenging future would be. Would you still choose to be born?
Nor that I'm advocating it, just commenting, but this might be one of the plusses of being a parent, because you're busybusybusy and you *blink* and they've moved out and you're 50. Thinking from 50 to 70ish isn't *quite so daunting.
25 was the age that hangovers started actually hurting and you have to do all you can the previous night to avoid them (apart from drink loads of course) so drink water, eat food blah blah. Once you're past 25 eating is NOT cheating.
I told a good friend last week, this life is so emotionally and mentally exhausting and it would be so great to be able to get recharged in either department. I'm 44 and there doesn't seem to be any end in sight. Just more being burnt out.
Children. You have children. Then you look back at your 25 yo self and wish you had that much free time.
You'd better find a way to SAVE $$$ or you will never be able to retire. So if you can save enough to live on in retirement, you get to do the same c**p every day, just like now. Get up, fight public battles to commute to work, then spread 8 hours or more at a job you hate. Find something you love to do, save for the retirement you want to live. P.S. Move out of your parents basement first!!!
Having a healthy attitude just means thinking to yourself "At least this'll make a good story later" when something goes wrong.
White boomers went to college for the price of an orange and were given a house for the price of a pineapple.
Been there, done that. Now I’m mad at myself for throwing away perfectly good Tupperware.
I don't know how my parents did it . . . 3 kids and no where near as many appliances as today. Yard work, cooking and laundry must have been continuous!
Yes. Especially with the god-damned American school system. I know the meme's not about America specifically, but since I'm American and don't know what it's like elsewhere, I can only speak for myself. But the schools here just teach you how to make someone else richer, to conform, to work in a factory, and not to collaborate with others. I mean, there's hardly any other time in life outside of school that you'll be in a situation where you can't collaborate with others, so why not encourage it in school? They don't want you to succeed, they want you to conform. Anyways, fun rant :(
Some of us had a close caregiver say this to us at 10. And being an adult isn’t so bad because we broke out
Hey, it was 10 years ago, when I was 47, when I finally found my dream job. I absolutely love what I do now. Don't give up. If you keep trying, it can happen.
There is literally NO rule that says you have to HAVE a New Year resolution at all. Why are you people punishing yourselves?
Haha. I can so relate to when I got my first job after graduation. I got my own office and my name at the door and I felt so much like a little kid visiting a parent at work and also childishly proud. Very mixed feelings. "Do they really trust me to make decisions myself? They must have hired the wrong person". But yeah, then I realized no one actually feel like an adult- we just keep doing whatever we are doing and hope for the best.
I do this and say "f**k it" and go buy takeout every time. Spirit willing, flesh weak, and all that.
And it has to be the right plunger. That sink plunger she has won't work on a toilet.
Tonight my husband realised that we are paying over $6K in health insurance each year.
Based On The True Story Of My Adult Life
The doormat in front of my house says ‘Introverted Lap Cactus Hedgehog, Not Welcome to Strangers or Nosy Neighbors. P.S. My Cats Are Not Rabid Just Sassy.’
It means there's something you forgot. And you won't remember it until the most inconvenient moment. 😳
Scrunch it up in a big ball, jam it into the basket, spend 40 minutes getting it onto the mattress, iron it with your body. FlatSheetCommando
I read an article once where people answered the question "when did you realise you were now an adult". One of them was a guy who said he was on the subway and some creepy homeless dude was harassing a group of women and children. The victims kept glancing at him and he suddenly realised that he was the grown man in this situation and they were hoping he would step in and help.
Cannot take that stuff. Makes me feel very exactly where my kidneys are, and their disapproval of use of it, so I'd have to take another, this time stronger, painkiller to get rid of this. The entire class of agents, forgot their name, does this. I have no other kidney issues whatsoever, got that checked.
And as soon as you do, they turn your room into a storeroom or crafts room.
Didn't that mean the wish came true . . . we are bad at being adults!
I have a cat just so I can see what peaceful sleep looks like, since I won't be getting any myself probably for the rest of my life . . .
nah dude, just buy unhealthy c**p and use it to end yourself, that's what I do. If you're going to die poor and miserable you may as well enjoy it.
Never threaten something you cannot fulfill. Never punish with something that is mean. They won't learn to behave better they just learn resentment.
I went to the store last Friday morning and bought too much frozen food, so I had Orange Sherbet for breakfast. I'm 72-11/12. Was good.
I can NEVER have all 3. I can only achieve 2 of these at one time. As soon as I get all 3, something changes and it's 2 again, or only 1 and I have start all over . . . OUCH!
I only adult when it's necessary. The rest of the time I can be myself and blow raspberries at grumpy Karens
Sometimes You Have To Act Like A Kid To Be An Adult
it's because independence only comes from financial independence which only comes from being a f*****g oligarch.
Made a big decision on who has access to my life. My anxiety has lessened a lot.
Teenager too. Freshman year of highschool is hard, especially since I just moved and don't have my normal friends
In this case, if you are too afraid to ask anyone, you should probably check #1 (or maybe #2 in the mean time) on this list!
Me at 45: 20 years more before retirement. I can at last get paid to rest and stay at home! Canadian Government: Gen X, your retirement age is at 70.
I thought it was 67....or is that just for us "late boomers" ? Never mind it's still the stuff of poverty unless you're pensioned at work or married to someone who is.
Load More Replies... I guess adulting is a bit like any other skill - no-one is perfect at it. I've been with my partner for nearly 36 years, we own our own home (well, the bank still owns a chunk of it), we have an 18 year old heading off to uni next year, I'm reasonably expert in my specialist area and have been in my current job for 12 years. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. BUT... I'm still too scared to learn to drive so don't have a license. BTW I'm not saying doing all these things defines you as an adult - just that at face value it makes me look quite grown up (once I even got the yukky bits out of the plughole with my BARE HANDS).
hey, you make me feel good about learning to drive at 20. here in USA, most people are learning at 14/15. if you can live without it, don't judge yourself. :)
Load More Replies...
I'm officially scared to grow up. I already was but yeah.
Oh, adulting isn't quite that bad. Of course, I'm on the far side of it now---70 y.o.---but I did work for 52 years, have been driving for 58 years (parents taught me at the age of 12), have had, and lost, two children. Was married, but been happily divorced for over 40 years, and don't plan to go that route again. There's been a ton of stuff over the years, some of it really awful, like when my children died. But for the most part, it's been a good life, and I look forward to more of it, no matter how little might be left.
Me at 45: 20 years more before retirement. I can at last get paid to rest and stay at home! Canadian Government: Gen X, your retirement age is at 70.
I thought it was 67....or is that just for us "late boomers" ? Never mind it's still the stuff of poverty unless you're pensioned at work or married to someone who is.
Load More Replies... I guess adulting is a bit like any other skill - no-one is perfect at it. I've been with my partner for nearly 36 years, we own our own home (well, the bank still owns a chunk of it), we have an 18 year old heading off to uni next year, I'm reasonably expert in my specialist area and have been in my current job for 12 years. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. BUT... I'm still too scared to learn to drive so don't have a license. BTW I'm not saying doing all these things defines you as an adult - just that at face value it makes me look quite grown up (once I even got the yukky bits out of the plughole with my BARE HANDS).
hey, you make me feel good about learning to drive at 20. here in USA, most people are learning at 14/15. if you can live without it, don't judge yourself. :)
Load More Replies... I'm officially scared to grow up. I already was but yeah.
Oh, adulting isn't quite that bad. Of course, I'm on the far side of it now---70 y.o.---but I did work for 52 years, have been driving for 58 years (parents taught me at the age of 12), have had, and lost, two children. Was married, but been happily divorced for over 40 years, and don't plan to go that route again. There's been a ton of stuff over the years, some of it really awful, like when my children died. But for the most part, it's been a good life, and I look forward to more of it, no matter how little might be left.
