When you type “adulting” it autocorrects to “adulating” because it is not a real word by any means. It is not the syntactic mess that bothers me though. It is the way the term is used. The term implies that becoming an adult is not an inevitable part of life, but instead a choice some of us make.
The term is used whenever people want to give themselves a pat on the back for completing a mundane task like grocery shopping or when they want to be charmingly self- deprecating. It is never used in a serious manner.
News Flash. Nobody feels like an adult, ever:
Just ask your parents; I bet they still feel 16. There’s a lot of pressure on us to be adults when choosing a career path. The financial situation of today makes it more difficult for young entrepreneurs to get onto the corporate ladder, let alone climb it. But all is not lost. Your status as an adult rides on a whole lot more than the summer internships you get.
And how tidy your kitchen is.
It’s more to do with growth.
Saying “adulting” sells your talents short:
Being a child was not easy. Can you imagine learning how to read and write from scratch? Being a teenager with a lot of academic burden, alongside hormonal changes, was terrifying. Life is all about adapting to the conditions you find yourself in. It feels difficult because the unfamiliar is daunting. But we’ve come a long way; applauding ourselves for “adulting” should come from a sincere place, not an unassuming one.
We should back ourselves:
We pride ourselves on washing up as a perfect form of “adulting” when, really, we are all doing better than we care to admit. Slowly we are learning to connect with people that are different to us. Before university, the people we interacted with were not nearly as diverse. We are learning to be there for our friends when they are in need and we are taking responsibility for our own choices numerous times a day. We are becoming independent.
It is okay to doubt yourself. It is absolutely normal to feel like a child disguised as a young woman. The endgame is not to eradicate all doubt, it is learning to take stock of what you are doing well and what needs progress moving forth. The most successful and confident people self-reflect religiously. This is “adulting”.
For many of us it means coming to terms with the boring reality that we will have to endure the less glamorous parts of life like laundry and budgeting. But even if you haven’t done laundry in weeks or missed three lectures in a row, congrats you are still an adult and you rock at it.
Image Credits:
https://unsplash.com/photos/qyvm0zXdKYE
https://pixabay.com/en/produce-grocery-store-shelf-2472015/
https://pixabay.com/en/coffee-pen-notebook-work-book-2306471/