Sometimes my back hurts, or my knees ache. My joints get stiff all the time. You can blame it on what you will (me laying in bed watching Netflix is so not the root of my pain) but my body did not always ache this way.
I blame it on age, but older people tell me I’m too young. Poppy-cock!
If you’re old enough to vote, you are old enough to crab about your back hurting. You are definitely old enough to bark about the money you don’t have. I’d say you even have full reign to “pause for dramatic effect” make your own decisions.
Older folk look down on our generation at times and criticize us for being on our “cellular devices” too much – yes, phones have snagged us into some trouble a time or two – but just because we have more technology does not necessarily mean that we don’t have fewer problems.
I’m not going out on a limb by saying that growing up is tough. Granted, having more control over what monopolizes my time is pretty fantastic, but so much changes along the way.
“I started to feel like an adult when I had to start to buying my own things, like food,” offered BHC student Brett Banfield. “Going out to eat and doing other things, I use my own money instead of asking for a couple bucks to go out.”
Madison Krause, a BHC student hunting for a major in criminal justice, reflected, “The moment it hit me that I was a grown up was when I walked in on my first 8 AM summer class. I thought to myself ‘Well this sucks, so I must be a grown up now!’”
There’s no fancy award for when you have to act like an adult, which is too bad because it would make doing what you don’t want to do that much easier.
Before you know it, you’re caught in a cycle of the same thing every single day, then every week. Work, school, work, school…did I mention I have work and I go to school?
Being on your feet for 6 + hours a day at a job can make you feel like an adult pretty quick. Especially when you have a job where you have to think and act quickly, all the while keeping a smile plastered to your face.
“I think I realized I was finally an adult when I was going to school from 9 AM to 5 PM, then work from 6PM to 1 AM, and then having to do it all over again the next day,” sighed Trisha Rutledge, a BHC student preparing herself for the nursing program.
“I was so drained everyday that I’d forget what day it even was. One night I was so tired after work I just broke down on the way home, but that’s when I realized working so hard is worth it to be successful.”
It’s pretty rare that anyone straight out of high school has their dream job right off the bat, which is why many of us are attending college. You start hearing that phrase “Well at least I’m making money” being used as an excuse for working miserable hours.
BHC student Payton Loete agrees, “I think the most frightening thing about being an adult is the troubles of finance. Making decisions based upon money makes me crazy. It is extremely hard to balance the things I need with the things I want.”
Sometimes the universe has a funny way of testing to see whether you sink or swim. Work and school may seem like they take up a large expanse of our time right now, but every one of us has some type of stressful life situation we have to deal with on top of everything else.
Life, thou art a heartless *bleep**bleep**bleep*.
“Growing up to me has been rough,” confided BHC student Logan Hamilton. “Growing up with depression, especially, has hastened the experience because you learn to cope a lot quicker. It’s great to feel the satisfaction that new responsibilities and experiences bring, but I miss waking up and feeling a sense of wonder.”
BHC student Holly Block admitted, “I had to grow up at a young age. I felt like an adult throughout high school. After graduation, I felt more in place with the world. It wasn’t me realizing I was an adult, it was me finally being accepted as an adult.”
Yes, we now have bills and obligations and adult-ish things to do – reading a newspaper, completing a crossword puzzle, or maybe balancing a checkbook – but there was a reason why all throughout high school we were looking forward to this!
Have you taken the time today to appreciate that you are old enough and capable enough to achieve anything you set your heart on?
There will always be bumps in the road, but it’s how you maneuver around, shoot over, or blast through them that matters. Your goof-ups now will just make for entertaining stories for your kiddos and (gasp) grandkids. Gray hairs won’t really be too noticeable at first on my little blonde head, will they?
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