Have you ever wondered — am I really an adult? I mean, who decides when and where we become this ambiguously mature word?
Read these 17 signs to see just how emerging into adulthood you really are. If none of them apply to you, keep on playing video games until 2am whilst eating cereal. If all 17 ring your name, start looking for mini-vans and re-allocating your IRA my friend.
Original photo by the Photography Muse – Creative Commons
17 Signs You are Emerging into Adulthood
1. Ikea has become your Disneyland
2. Sleep goes from being your nemesis who you avoid, to your best friend whom you wish would come over more often.
3. Finishing an entire season of your favorite show in a day doesn’t quite feel like the accomplishment it used to.
4. If all the work emails you’ve read and written were placed side by side, they would cross the Atlantic Ocean. There and back.
5. Your body begins to ache from your vigorous lack of movement.
6. Debt goes from being this fairy tale to be repaid in a land far, far, away. To your daily reality show.
Photo by David Levitz – Creative Commons
7. Memories of how you’re going to feel Sunday morning actually begin to factor into your decisions on Saturday night.
8. A Christmas sweater with a reindeer on it feels like a good idea. And you’re not being ironic.
9. You’ve mastered the interview this is my dream job nod-and-smile for a job you don’t want and can’t believe you’re applying for.
10. Facebook goes from being a hobby, to an obsession, to a chore you dread.
11. 93% of the photos on your phone are of your pet or baby. The remaining pictures are things you’re trying to sell on Craigslist to make room for your pet or baby.
12. The thought of buying a new sofa or kitchen appliance makes you as giddy as a 12-year-old at a Justin Bieber concert.
13. You start cushioning all vacations with an extra day off for “recovery time.”
14. You don’t spend the week organizing your plans for Saturday night. No, organizing is your plans for Saturday night.
15. You haven’t sprinted in two years. Something you realize too late as you try to dash across the street to avoid oncoming traffic, only to pull muscles you forgot you had.
16. Classical music becomes this weird, welcomed breather. Doing the dishes becomes your relaxing getaway. You’d pay $50 for an hour of silence.
17. You now understand what your parents meant when they said, “You’ll understand when you’re older.”
Relate to any of these? What did I miss?
I could honestly list these all day. Remember those days when you actually wanted to be a grown up and thought it would be cool to have a job? Little did you know that came with a whole load of responsibility and bills.
– I want to put an apostrophe in the title of this post (you’re) Yes, you know you are old when you start really caring about grammar.
– You no longer get excited when there is mail in the mailbox, as they are most likely bills.
– You see the weekend as a time to sleep instead of go out.
– Your body actually starts naturally waking you up at 6:30am even if you try and fight it.
– Groupon is the best thing since sliced bread because you can actually afford to go out to eat with people.
– Pictures you post on Facebook have gone from you out having a good time to, “aw look how cute my dog is sleeping” or “look at this DIY project I tried to do off Pinterest”.
I shall get back to work now…
Great additions Lauren! Too funny. Can definitely relate to not wanting to check the mail (we need to get back to writing letters…wait, gosh now I really sound like an adult…)
sounds like work a minimum-wage job or a job you detest. You should resign.
I guess I’m a long way from being a grown up!
#2 – the one about sleep, I can totally relate to. It was a right of passage to stay up all night. The first time I did, I felt like such a grown up, now, I can’t wait to get to sleep at night. For my brain to calm down and I have the ability to lay down and just fall asleep. So good.
Great list.
Ha. Thanks Sydney. If I could have all the hours back from staying up late watching re-runs or playing video games, I’d be one rested man.
Love all of these! I was thinking about buying a Sam’s Club (think Costco or BJ’s) memebership last weekend realized it was an adult move. I was terrified.
Dude, I don’t even have a baby and #11 is true for my phone photos. I am REALLY feeling old now.
Megan — TOO FUNNY!
Oh my gosh I’ve been making my own list for the past two years. Off the top of my head.
–PTO. Paid. Time. Off. I get paid to sit on the beach? Awesome. But I also can only sit on the beach a certain number of days a year? Bummer.
–You feel like a BOSS after calling the doctor’s office yourself about your own medical bills/care/prescriptions. “There is no way I’m coming back in and paying a copay when the first medication you gave me didn’t cure my strep throat.”
–Concerts on a week day sound like a chore. It goes HOW LATE?!
–You get a crock pot, a griddle and dish drying rack for Christmas and you’re STOKED.
–Speaking of crock pots, you get up EARLIER than you have to in order to prepare a meal in the crock pot before work and you feel like you don’t even know yourself anymore.
Ha. Jenna these are awesome additions. I’ve yet to be lured in by the crock pot. So I guess I’m not quite mini-van ready yet.
– Your conversations with friends are about home loans, raising children, and accessories that go with the above.
– You actually feel the physical effect of too much sugar and junk food a few hours after consumption.
You try to figure out how to tactfully tell family members to give you money for Christmas instead of that sweater you know you are going to return to the store. (Or to give to your child’s education savings account instead of that obnoxious toy.)
Lindsay – definitely relate 100% to the sugar/junk food thing. Oh how I miss the days I could eat a whole pillow case of candy and not feel a thing.
– When One Direction comes on the radio you have an automatic reflex to change it, and when the next station is playing commercials you think to yourself “that’ll do.”
– You find yourself raising an eyebrow at popular teenage fashions because… leopard print skinny jeans? Really?
– You have looked a child in the eye and said “because I said so!” on at least one occasion.
– A good saturday now consists of sweats and lysol instead of sequins and hair spray.
– “I just want a fun guy with a bitchin’ ride and awesome hair!” has been replaced with “I just want a nice guy with a good job, 401K and a plan for the future.”
Abby, too funny! Leopard skinny jeans perplexed me just today. Great list!
I loved this post. I feel like a relate to most of them.
– You get up on the weekends earlier during the workweek to enjoy the last bit of your 20s before settling down.
– Everyone thinks it is time to for you to get married when the thought still makes you feel old and too settling.
– You have more furniture than just a bed to sleep on, which makes it almost impossible to move.
– You actually have decorated your mantel with home decor and not empty alcohol bottles.
Awesome! I did a similar list to this several months ago! It includes several fun ones like:
– taking a shot of alcohol requires at least 4 sips and lots of cringing
– N’sync was your first concert and you keep your fingers crossed every year for a reunion
– Pinterest is your escape
– The first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning is how excited you are for bed again that night!
http://turningcountry.com/2013/01/27/you-know-you-are-closer-to-30-when/
totally right about feeling giddy when you’ve gotten a new kitchen appliance or sofa but mine is a little bit different. I remember being totally let down when I got clothes for Christmas when I was younger and now it’s like a fairy tale when I open up a box and there’s clothes inside. Also I’ve gotten super excited when I found that I can upcycle my old t-shirts to make really cute new ones. Also somebody had tossed out a standing lamp on the side of the road that was in perfectly good condition and I was ecstatic because I needed one for my dorm, so i took it! XD
Cool! I get excited about bargains and upcycling as well. Nothing feels better than saving money in your twenties since every penny counts. Wish I can make something cute out my old t-shirts too.:)
You know you’re an adult when someone asks you what you want for your birthday and the main thing you want for your birthday is for other people to pay your bills.
Ha! Too funny and too true Skye. Well said.
Irresponsibility.
-When Christmas doesn’t FEEL like Christmas..I dunno, maybe just me.
-When you’re *GASP* responsible!!!
-When you actually understand why school is important and work and studying isn’t a terrible thing. It’s something you have to do. And you do it. Done.
-When you feel bad about not doing anything. for an entire hour. except watch ytube or kdrama.
-when you grow out of boybands and kpop.
-when you ENJOY classic music (woahh relatable)
-When you realize procrastination is terrible and you have to stop it.
-When you know hard work is the only way to to get there.
Love #14
I can relate to nearly all of these (which, considering I’m 14, is probably a bad thing).
I guess I’m not really an adult yet since the only bills I pay are phone, netflix, and groceries. I don’t currently have a car. I have my license and I had a 1999 Honda Civic but I got road rage and followed a lady after she flipped me off and she called the police on me and the police came to my parents house, which is where I lived at the time, and gave me a court date. I got a plea deal where I went on probation for 4 months, which seemed like forever but that was forever ago now. I also live in a host home, but I clean the dishes pretty often and clean up after myself and have a coffee maker that I got excited about when my family friend ordered it online for me as a present for doing well in one of my college classes. I can definitely relate about the sleep one though. Every time I have to get up and go to work I just want to stay in bed instead of going to work, even though my job is fun. I also don’t have a partner because my last partner dumped me for a very silly, stupid, and unnecessary reason. I finished high school, 2 technical education programs and my college certificate program. Idk. I guess I can relate to a good chunk of these but not all of them 🙂
I forgot to mention in my last comment that my parents made me donate my car after I got in trouble for road rage.
ok