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“Some days, adulting was too much responsibility. Get up for work. Brush your hair. Pay bills. It was an endless list of too many things and not enough time. The struggle was real, my friends. But.” ~ Max Monroe
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As kids, we’re often told that we’ll get to do whatever we want once we become adults. But for now, we need to finish off our homework, eat, sleep, wake up on time, go to school, and so on.
And when you become an adult, all that you do is wonder when the time for you to do whatever you want will actually come!
Of course you have far more freedom than what you had when you were a kid. But as you continue to progress in age, life’s challenges also begin to pace up.
With every year, there are more demands, expectations, and pressures to achieve some or other milestone.
Let’s admit that adulting can be so hard at times!
There are days when you don’t want to adult! You want to crawl under your soft, little blankie and just stay there. You want to laze around without any alarms going off for some work that needs to be done.
You certainly want to eat whatever you want without worrying about what it will do to your waist or bum.
And you wish that everything would magically take care of itself—don’t you?
I certainly do! Some days, I find adulting to be damn hard, and those days can last for months!
“Adulting is too hard. Let’s play something else.” ~ Tanya Masse
Meeting the demands of adult life isn’t easy.
You’re stripped off of all the comfort and care that you got as a child and now you have to take care of yourself and so many other things that are happening all around you. The minute you settle in on reality, it changes. And now there’s a new one to deal with!
Here are some things that tell us that adulting is not an easy feat:
1. You are solely responsible for your life. Well, as a kid, you could at least find someone to blame or throw a tantrum in front of. As an adult, you no longer have that privilege. You’re responsible for everything that happens within you and in your life. This responsibility can really weigh you down at times.
2. Your past baggage is always tagging along, and at times you’re not even aware of the ways in which it’s showing up in your adult life.
3. There are multiple realities that you need to juggle at once. At times, balancing work, health, relationships, and overall life goals can seem to be at war with each other, leaving you completely clueless.
4. Relationships aren’t simple. Not that making friends was easy for some of us as kids, but adult relationships come with their own set of challenges. They demand so much of time, patience, effort, and skills. They can be truly exhausting!
5. It’s all about money, honey! As if human relations weren’t enough, now you have to create and sustain your relationship with money as well. That in itself a huge topic.
6. Life is always getting in the way. No matter how much you plan or prepare, life will have its own agenda. Eventually, you learn to sit back and enjoy the ride. Till then, you’re just paddling your way through life.
7. Taking care of your health can be quite challenging. As much as we talk about being intentional and focussed on our health, it’s not that simple. Being mindful of your health needs a dozen reminders because you’re being stretched in different directions by life’s demands.
8. You have to navigate grief at various points. Adulting will need you to let go of some of your needs, expectations, goals, dreams, visions, and even people. You will struggle to find your way through the chances you didn’t take, relationships that didn’t survive, and visions that could never materialise. Grieving is all that you can do.
9. Life can get pretty boring and monotonous. Most of us get tied down in routines and activities that have to be done over and over again. Adulting can take away the fun of life.
10. It can get pretty lonely.
11. You can love your family, friends, partner, and still resent them. There will be times when you wouldn’t like them or want to be around them. At times, these are phases that we all go through. However, if the phase lasts for a long time, then it’s time to address the elephant in the room.
12. Letting issues slide can extract a huge cost. As an adult, you have to learn to take the bull by the horns. Certainly not easy, eh?!
13. You’re constantly learning and unlearning things. Life makes sure that it teaches you everything there is to learn.
14. Giving meaning to your life is also up to you, and that can take an entire lifetime.
And there’s a lot more that comes with the title of being an adult.
No wonder, we’re all looking for escape routes.
“Someone wise told me recently that Adulting was hard. My response: TRUE STORY.” ~ Sonya Watson
I guess the only upside to being an adult is that you get to choose. As kids, we’re seldom given that option or power. But as adults, the element of choice is our superpower.
Choosing experiences that can add value to your life is all that you can do.
And if you are able to do that well, some bits of adulting can feel less daunting. Not that choosing is easy! But, at the end of the day, you’ll be at peace with what you could or couldn’t do.
Then, snuggling under that blanket would feel much more comfortable…isn’t it true?
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