This past week, I’ve tackled a variety of adult activities.
I’ve dealt with a major credit card company. I started doing my taxes. I took an hour out of my day to try to understand health insurance. I spent an hour on the phone dealing with a hospital bill from when I got a concussion in November. Overall, I came to the conclusion that being a grown up sucks – but unfortunately, that’s how people have made it to be.
Growing up looked a heck of a lot more glamorous when I was 14. I can still remember telling everyone how I was going to go to NYU to be a journalist. I was going to live in New York city and sip on some sort of pink creation sparkling in a martini glass in some dimly lit, swanky bar. I was going to wear really nice clothes that fit well and have thicker hair. I was going to live comfortably. I was going to have an adorable cat named Aristotle. My apartment would be akin to something out of the movie Amelie.
Things didn’t turn out that way. Great-grandparents got sick. Loved ones died. Financial woes started to occur. Cars died. Life just happened.
There were a lot of reasons why things didn’t turn out the way I planned, but now as I’m getting older, I’m looking back and realizing that they probably didn’t happen because they weren’t meant to. I’m a firm believer in everything happening for a reason, no matter how painful or wrong an experience may feel. In my own case, things happened because, well, they had to.
Along the way, everyone told me that this was part of growing up. Growing up. Yes, that process which alludes us until we look back and realize we’ve wasted too many years and made too many compromises. This is what growing up means to a lot of people.
I refuse to let it mean something bad for me.
No growing up.
Why be limited to directions?
Remove the up.
I’m growing – into the world and into what I want to be.
Why should I have to waste my time? Why should I have to settle for something less? Certainly my dreams aren’t the same as when I was 14, but still, I can pursue the things I want. There’s no crime in that. It’s not unreasonable. It’s not impossible. Screw the system. It’s time for a change.
All in favor of growing to reach your goals: start shouting. Screaming. Disrupt things. Let ’em know that you’re ready to start taking control of what you want. You still have to pay your taxes, but damn, you’ll feel great while you do it.
Moral of the story: Don’t let adulthood suck.