College is widely recognized as the best four years of our lives. It’s full of late nights, new friends, and memories that will last forever. It also serves as a final transition from childhood into adulthood. Learning how to act like an adult is certainly no easy task— and who better to represent our collective struggle than the king of never growing up: Parks and Rec’s Andy Dwyer.
Here are 25 of the greatest struggles that we all face as we try to become “real adults.”
1) After 18 years of home cooked meals, you finally realize that your mother won’t be there to cook you breakfast, lunch and dinner forever. You discover that cooking is definitely a learning process.
2) …And your diet begins to suffer.
3) Surprisingly enough, cooking for yourself also means grocery shopping for yourself. Suddenly you have so many questions. What’s the best brand of bread? What kind of butter should you buy? WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 1½% AND 2% MILK?!
4) You’ve cooked yourself your first decent, lukewarm meal. The only problem is that you forgot that you have nothing to eat it on.
5) You very quickly remember that all the fun things that you want to do with your friends do, in fact, cost money (that you don’t have).
6) As a result, you set off to find yourself your first real, adult job— and you have some specific requirements. Business formal? Hell. No.
7) During the application process, you’re rudely awakened to the fact that you have virtually no real skills or qualifications. Interviews are like a minefield. Was that a trick question? Are there wrong answers??
8) …But the fact of the matter is that everyone has to get that crappy entry-level position before they can advance to their dream job, and you know that.
9) Although sometimes it feels like you’ll never get where you want to be and life is exhausting and all hope is lost.
10) Company functions are a chance to prove yourself. You have your fake laugh honed to perfection and an arsenal of conversation topics up your sleeve that make you sound like a competent adult.
11) …But half the time you’re just nodding and pretending to understand what everyone else is talking about.
12) Finding clothes that are A) clean, B) still fit you, and/or C) combine to form a semi-acceptable, matching outfit is a constant struggle.
13) The first time that you get sick by yourself, you wonder how you’re going to survive. Should you go to the doctor? Do you need any medication? WebMD-ing your symptoms has soon convinced you that your common cold is a sign of something much more ~ sinister ~.
14) Speaking of the doctor, you now have to make your own appointments. Filling out your medical history feels like taking a test that’s designed for you to fail. Are you even qualified to be talking to a doctor— much less making medical decisions— by yourself??
15) You promise yourself that for this election, you’ll do your research beforehand like a true adult. Will it actually happen? Probably not. But hey, you’ve got plenty of more years to follow through, right?!
16) You’re finally ready to find a significant other who shares a real connection with you; someone who you can have a serious relationship with. You wonder how you ever lived without them.
17) …But you know that you are still light years away from being ready to take care of a child.
18) You realize why your mom was always nervous about buying you nice things.
19) You make a list of all the places that you want to live.
20) …But come to find that the places that you can afford look like this.
21) Now that you’re an adult, you want to get ahead of the game. You’ve always heard that investing early is smart.
22) And every trip home is an opportunity to take advantage of your parents’… generosity.
23) Despite your newfound adulthood, you still find yourself consistently making decisions that you later regret (i.e. staying up until 2 AM watching Netflix every night before work).
24) With all the cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, and waking up at 6 AM for work, you find that you’re running a little low on time… and sometimes you have to improvise.
25) But even though you realize that you have no idea what you’re doing…
you know that it will all turn out just fine.
Photo Sources:
- http://33.media.tumblr.com/a3ddd45e3129f1fea03099d36af46a72/tumblr_nhvg9…
- https://media2.giphy.com/media/fx2fPo7Uy8rks/200_s.gif
- http://41.media.tumblr.com/9d632da2b8dbf933015acc04c491ef74/tumblr_nt2s1…
- http://www.geeksofdoom.com/GoD/img/2012/05/2012-05-19-parksrecwinterfe.jpg
- http://www.nbc.com/sites/nbcunbc/files/files/styles/nbc_gallery_slide/pu…
- http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ma48e9dYb21qmiff2o1_500.jpg