Adult (v.): To act in a manner common to or expected of an adult, especially if out of obligation or due to transitioning into adulthood.

Adulting. It’s not only a skill, it’s an art. An art that requires an unmatched level of work and dedication. Adulting skills are necessary to have in today’s society, but yet it’s something we all struggle with. Bills, education, sustainable income–nobody wants to do all these things, but alas, our world would not function right if we didn’t do things just because we don’t like doing them. 

As some of you may know, my 18th birthday was just about 2 weeks ago; Saturday, December the 10th. Of course, it’s not like on your 18th birthday the gods come down and bestow upon you the power of adulthood. But in the eyes of the law, I’m as much of an adult as they can come. This, by far, was the most important birthday of my entire life thus far. There was so much riding on it, and I’d been anticipating it anxiously for at least the last 2 years. I was literally counting down the days until the 10th; since the year and a half point, I wouldn’t say “I turn 18 in December next year”, I would say “I turn 18 in 1 year, 6 months, 1 week, 8 hours and 3 minutes”. I was ready to go. In fact, I think I’ll make a separate post about the wait and what it meant to me; if so, I’ll link to it right here.

Adulthood has treated me pretty well so far, thankfully. It wasn’t a big monumentous blowout like I thought it would be, but still, it feels pretty good. I’m just beginning to flex all of my adult muscles and break into my adulting shoes, and since it’s gone so well, I thought I’d share with you guys what’s happened so far.

Let’s see. I was lucky enough for my birthday to land on a Saturday this year, so that’s when my party was. It was just at a Dave & Buster’s, nothing special. It was technically too early to do any official adult stuff, though; when my older brother turned 18, he tried to buy a lottery ticket and they told him he had to be a year and a day, just to make sure. So I mostly waited until Monday, to be safe.

Since then, though, I’ve actually done a lot of adult-ish things. I’ve been able to browse the Internet freely without the need to avoid certain not-safe-for-work content. I also filled out my medical information and gave my consent to be at the student wellness center at my school, something that my mom revoked my access to. Then I also realized that this would really expand my job search, and would make the process a lot easier. Mostly I’ve had a really good time being able to tell people that I’m 18, looking back to my earliest memories and seeing how far I’ve come. Just yesterday (the 23rd), I was able to do my Christmas shopping without having to worry about my local mall’s ‘parental guidance after 5 o’clock’ rule. I purchased my own vape pen, just to see the process, and the guy at the kiosk was super nice about it. And then, last but most importantly, I went to Brookstone and tested out one of their super cool fancy massage chairs. Seriously though, I did do all of these things, and oddly enough, they ID’ed me for the massage chair, but not for the vape.

So yeah, it looks like adulthood is going pretty well, knock on wood. I’ve barely scratched the surface, though, and I’m very curious as to what it has in store for me. I have a lot to learn, really. And although adulthood is a necessary evil, I’ll absolutely do everything in my power to keep my childlike spirit and creativity.