The Struggles of Adulting

My mom tells me that when I was younger I wanted to grow up so that I can make my own decisions. I guess, from a young age, I knew that I would only be happy or at least accepting of things if I was the one who had the ultimate and final say. I am not sure what I pictured adult life to be but I do not think I was wrong in believing that there would be many decisions involved and often due to many struggles experienced. Damn, sometimes I think to myself, what the heck did I get myself into …

A close friend of mine says that they envisioned adulting to be a bunch of close friends navigating the ups and downs of life together, sort of like the popular sitcoms Friends and/or The Big Bang Theory. I actually think that would have been pretty cool if we could all be in close proximity to one another. Who wouldn’t want to be experiencing all of adulthood with people that have significance in their life.

It is quite unfortunate that it is not quite the way it would seem in a sitcom. Instead, one of the first struggles is saying goodbye to these significant people as their aspirations and careers take them away from us, geographically speaking. We cannot always be in the same space, but it is quite exciting to know that we each have varying dreams to chase and even if we were in the same city, we are each on different timelines.

Not so long ago I had made a comment that both my car fuel tank and bank account were crying at the same time. Thankfully it was so close to pay day, a whole other struggle. Prior to working, I was so sure that with my increased monthly income and my relatively similar lifestyle, I could easily enjoy a happy stress free, money saving life. Instead …

… a joke within a group of working individuals. Turns out that a greater income comes with greater expenses from absolutely nowhere, well at least it feels that way.

The struggle of employment is one that has to be mentioned. For many people there is an expected age to be employed depending on circumstances. On the one hand a person could be part of the 30%+ unemployment rate, which is tragic. However on the other hand another might be employed under poor and/or depressing working conditions purely as a means to survive.

This reminds me of a conversation whereby I realised that our parents birthed us out of their choice. However, whether they have the means or not to take care of a child, as we get older we ultimately do not have a choice other than to survive somehow. The entire conversation was a laughing matter, but when you really think about you can almost understand that nobody can choose to be born but at some point in life the people that chose you end up expecting you to fend for yourself in one way or another. Seems crazy to think that my adulting struggles came to existence because someone decided that they wanted a child in this already over-populated world.

Speaking of an over-populated world, the thing that brings be solace is that at least I will never be alone in my struggle. Someone somewhere is going through the same or similar struggles. Someone somewhere has already gone through the same or similar struggles. And someone somewhere is usually willing to help; whether be in financial, to do with employment, or any other responsibility that comes with adulthood. As I have said before, “we might have been born alone but that doesn’t mean we have to live through life alone.” We are social creatures afterall. That is a huge decision to make as an adult!

Thank you for your time in reading some of my thoughts. May your adulting journey be a fruitful one!!