The Definition of Adulting

I have been at school for a little over two weeks now and I can already tell that it is going to be completely different from freshman year. I am a little older, a little wiser and I have a lot more happening. I feel like all freshman must go through a period of figuring out how they want their college experience to play out. You do not really narrow down what to be involved in until you have experienced an entire year. This time around I am going to be a lot more involved and have a lot more responsibilities. Recently I have decided that this is all part of a new piece of life that I like to call adulting. What is this made up term you may ask, it is my way of explaining all of the new responsibilities that come with growing up.

I had my next phase of life realization while standing at Dollar General with my roommate. We had gone to buy the random necessities we forgot in all of our packing to come back to school. Mainly the items we needed to clean up our mess after mud volleyball. The things we were buying were just plain sad. She had a mop, carpet deodorizer and glass cleaner. I had a broom, a bucket and shower curtain rings. Nothing fun. This was no time for messing around, our room needed cleaned and we needed the supplies to do it. As we stood there, thinking about how we used our hard-earned money on such unamusing items, I realized that it was my future. It started with a broom, but what would come next? Before I knew it I would be buying carts full of groceries, making mortgage payments and clocking in at an honest to goodness nine to five jobs. I thought about it for about 20 minutes before I fell asleep that night.

Ever since I had my realization I have spent a lot of time thinking about it and coming to terms with reality. I have decided that although there will be more responsibilities coming up in life, I am ready to handle them. Plus there will be perks too. So tonight when my friend Kelley asked me to make dinner with her, I welcomed the opportunity to adult and learn new things. After all, college is a time to learn and come into your own. It would be a dishonor not to want to participate.

I have learned that whether you know it or not, no matter how old you are, you may discover you are adulting every day. The more you learn and take responsibility for, the more you grow and work toward becoming the person you choose to be. So go spend your money on a broom, you will get more use out of it than that fun stuff you really want anyway.