10 Things That Say You're Actually an Adult

10 Things That Say You're Actually an Adult

10. You buy donuts whenever you want. Seriously. Not too often though because you know how to take care of yourself. 

9. You stay out until 2 a.m. and no parental-type figures freak out or call the cops. Heck, you stay out all night sometimes!

8. The thought of sharing a room with someone makes you physically want to barf. You're too old for that crap. (See exceptions below, you married folks.)

7. You PAY YOUR OWN PHONE BILL. I cannot stress this enough, you get the heck off your parents plans and pay your own phone bill like the responsible person you are.

6. Your parents are less your parents and more like your close older friends. Speaking of that, your parents ask YOU for advice every once in awhile. Not very often, and they do tell you what to do occasionally because they are your parents, but seriously, you're realizing they're actually pretty cool people.

5. Cheap health insurance is the most exciting benefit of your job, and you actually know what a 401k is.

4. You make your own doctors appointments and know how to take care of yourself. From the food you eat to the once-yearly checkups, you know how to help yourself be a healthy individual. 

3. You're excited by the prospect of being able to pay your own rent. And bills. Especially phone bills. Have I mentioned that enough yet?

2. You've given up an unrealistic dream or two in pursuit of something better, even if that dream was all you wanted when you were younger. You're realizing what life is about, and you've found better dreams to achieve. I mean seriously, was beating all the levels of Skyrim seriously your 

1. You know what you want out of relationships. Whether this is dating, married life, regular friends, work associates, or close family, you know what you want. You may not know how to get it always, but you know how to compromise, sacrifice, and develop in relationships in your life. Most importantly, you know how to let people go.


That's my defining list for being an adult. Obviously there are a few exceptions. Married people, I sure hope you're sharing a room, or at least a place where you sleep in close proximity to one another. Phone bills are another. If you're on your parents plan and donating to the cause of keeping phone bills low, that's just smart. Letting your parents pay everything for you? Now that's just irresponsible.

Some people say they hate being an adult, that they'd go back to being a care-free child in a heartbeat. I never would. While I miss being young and relatively care-free, I enjoy making my own decisions too much for that to ever be something that I want to go back to.

As for relationships with anyone, in any form, they are difficult. Knowing how to give and take is important, and I think most of all it's letting go. That's something I've had to do a lot recently as people have grown up and moved on. It hurts, but letting go is an important part of life. That's just how it is, and how it always will be. Plus stalkers are creepy, so don't be that person. :)

No Time Except the Lunch Hour, and more Bruises

Part of being an adult is that you work up to having no time for hobbies
Perhaps I'm generalizing here, but I used to love to read, run, bicycle, hike, play mild sports, do theatre, and pretty much anything that was new and sounded fun. Now I have time for my job (it's not a career, but a job) and whatever I make time for. Right now, that's a theatre show which is currently crowding out a social life, exercise, writing, sleep, food...yep, that about covers it.

I have a new bruise from rehearsal though, which is kind of cool. I was working on a new dip with my swing-dancing partner because we had one that required me to lean most of my body out over the edge of the stage, let go with one hand and pray I didn't hit the floor before his teenage muscles realized that they were supposed to be holding me up. I decided to do something else which ironically resulted in the injury (trading falling off the stage to falling onto the stage, I guess one is marginally better) It was supposed to be a simple dip down in which I would bend my knees, go almost horizontal with the ground, and all he'd have to do was keep me from hitting the stage. Of course, the first time we practiced he didn't realize that if both of our arms were extended, I would go down with a resounding thunk.
"Okay, you ready?"
"Sure"
"Just keep your arms tight while I go down and then pop me back up."
"Sure"
"Okay" *thunk*
And voila, lovely black and blue shoulder blade! I call the condition my swing dancing partner has, jell-o arms. He puts absolutely no tension into his muscles, preferring instead to let me lead his flapping arms where they are supposed to go, which only creates a problem when that's supposed to keep me from spinal injury. I suppose jell-o could be nice to land on,  but it makes a terrible spotting tool.

Anyway, I digress, two subjects at once. Point being, I will be either living at work or on the stage for the next two weeks, neither of which is necessarily a bad thing. If I wasn't a responsible adult, I'd have my day free instead of working to support this strange theatre habit which my non-existent retirement fund begs me to quit. It's okay though, I'm still young and fairly stupid so I'll either figure out how to mesh the job and hobby to become career...or I won't.