Adult? Looks everywhere around me* Wait, You looking at me?

In response to this article, Sure 18 means you are legally an adult. But when do you really feel like an adult?

Yes, you can be working. I’m thankful for the paycheck and the weekends, but that doesn’t stop me from complaining about work just as much as I cribbed about college. Trudging through rain and wind and water to work on a “rain holiday” is a bitter pill to swallow. That certainly doesn't seem like the adult thing to do. It’s hard enough to make friends on campus, despite the similar age groups and common interests. It is infinitely harder as an "adult" at work, where, there are so many different people in various stages of life. See, I’m more interested in knowing if you have seen the trailer for the new Star Wars movie, than your 4 year old’s school annual day, which was probably just as good no doubt. How very "un-adult" like that attitude is.  

You’re a kid and everyone else around you is a kid too. Just, kids that do taxes.

The problem is when you see yourself as a kid (or young person) and the rest of your colleagues as adults (old people) or if you end up pressuring yourself to be more “adult”. What kind of a mythical being is an adult anyway? From the time we were kids, adults seemed like this fascinating species that knew perfectly well what their life was going to be, and what they wanted out of it. As a kid, you get asked “What do you want to be, when you grow up?” Because grown ups are people who have their lives figured out. They make decisions and are responsible people. If like me, the idea of considering yourself as an adult is just too bizarre and alien and met with a vehement wave of denial, what can you do? Simple solution actually. And that’s to think of everybody else as kids…

You’re a kid and everyone else around you is a kid too. Just, kids that do taxes. And that’s cool. Cooking and cleaning look like adult things to do, but seriously, cooking is just like colouring when you were five. Add some stuff here some there… ooh what an interesting colour. Looks disgusting? It probably is. The pool may feel deep sometimes, but we’re just imagining it. And mostly it’ll just be another kid that looks at you funny, asking, “Why are you flailing about like that? The entire pool is only three feet deep”, and you just say “Oh.” Before putting your feet down. (Perhaps older people are better at coming up with analogies about life.)

Just over a quarter of our lives are behind us right now, and to think that the best years of it are already over, seems too bleak. At some fundamental level, everyone is still learning and making mistakes, and if anyone is saying otherwise, avoid direct eye contact and back away slowly lest it spreads. It’s sad how the word adult is almost synonymous with routine, boredom, and a general somber attitude of acceptance. But it doesn’t have to be. And if that’s what it feels like, don’t call yourself an adult. Just be a cool kid who pays taxes.