Why is Adulting Such an Accomplishment?

As a little girl, I remember being so infatuated with the idea of growing up. Fast forward 15 years, not so much. Why does running endless errands, attempting to be responsible with money, and feeling gross and tired all of the time, seem glamorous as a kid? I guess being able to do whatever you wanted whenever you wanted was cool. However, the idea of being able to buy things with a swish of a card that automatically had money on it being “awesome,” is SO NOTA the case as a 20 year old that pays for her own school, sorority, and life. You could eat before swimming and bed without being told no. And driving… my siblings and I thought that was the best thing about being an adult and would pretend to drive each other through the Wendy’s drive through in the back yard. 

I legit wish that I had a way I could warn 5 year old Olivia to not get too excited about these mundane tasks that make up being an adult. After growing up and HAVING to get these things done consistently, being productive is an expected part of life and running endless errands will eventually lose its magic.  Not that living life isn’t great, but these high expectations lead to a false sense of accomplishment for doing what we’re supposed to do. It would be nice to be able to tell little Liv not to grow up too fast. 

We may not get these things done when they need to be done, or as badly as I want to buy that $150 pair of boots from Steve Madden, and didn’t, we have learned to be adults despite our flaws or the mistakes we make. We may stay up too late or drink a little too much on the weekend, but we’re learning to be responsible. It kind of just happened naturally. The day we left for college and were kicked out of the nest and told to fly solo, “adulting” has become a more and more natural thing as the days go by. And as those days continue to fly by we continue to make a huge deal out of “adulting.”   

Compared to the EXTRAORDINARY lives we could be experiencing, why don’t we try to live that way more? What is it about making sure we feed ourselves, which is a completely natural instinct and WILL get done (despite how many packets of ramen we don’t want to eat), that gives us such a sense of accomplishment? Being an adult and actively “adulting” is more than knowing when it’s time to pay your overcharged credit card bill.  

Why is it that when we shower consistently or get ready every day, though it may feel like the biggest struggle ever, is that not just an expected part of life? Do we really need a freaking gold star for not stinking and looking presentable? Grown-ups wake up every day, shower, and get ready for work without many complaints, because it is what they do. It’s what we should do, without hesitation because again, it’s just life and how society works.  

These are things that most human beings do on a day to day basis. Why is our generation making a HUGE deal out of becoming adults? We as a generation are successfully learning to lead regular lives, I get it’s a new concept and seems like such a big deal, but it’s going to happen regardless and we need to just go with it.  

BUT WHY IS ADULTING SUCH AN ACCOMPLISHMENT?  

It’s who we are meant to be, it’s why we are on this planet. We need to thrive in our lives and not just plain survive and call it a day, because “adulting” is a struggle and took all you had out of you. The fact that I woke up this morning and made a dentist appointment is not that big of a deal. Yes, it is something that I can check off of my planner, but in no way is that something I want to feel accomplished about. I want to be able to feel accomplished when I land my first big job or save enough money to get the tattoo that I want so badly. I don’t know about you guys but I did not just one, but THREE loads of laundry over the weekend does make me feel good, but not THAT good. It may warrant a good Snapchat story of me showing off how productive I can be, but that’s not “adulting.” 

We, as humans, have things that we have to do to survive and carry on healthy, happy lives. Why are we making these accomplished tasks into something they’re not? These are the things that we have to do, things that “adultier adults” do every day, all day.  Why did our generation wake up one day and decide that we were going to be overdramatic and settle on doing the mundane everyday tasks, then decide to be too tired to live life aiming for a REAL sense of accomplishment? For the last time: Why?