Adulting is scary. If I’m being honest none of us know what we’re doing and secretly still need our parents to help us out a bit of the time. For some people, the transformation from teen to adult happens before they even know it. For others, the question of “Have I really become an adult” seems to be lurking over your shoulders. But don’t worry, you may be closer to truly adulting than you think. Here are some signs according to experts that prove you’ve made it into adulthood.
Living On Your Own
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Nothing says “I’m an adult” quite like moving out of your parents’ house, which is exactly why it was identified as one of the major signs of “adulting”. If you lived on campus during your college years, then you might have already experienced that little taste of freedom that comes with not living under mom and dad’s roof. But moving out also means having to be financially stable which comes with responsibilities. According to experts, having the skillset to juggle all of the very real responsibilities that come with flying the coop reflect a shift in the brain. Congrats, even your brain just transformed into adulthood!
Cooking For Yourself
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Of course, there will be times when you burn a potato in the microwave, burn a batch of cookies, or give up and give in to ordering Chinese. This is all fine and normal cause clearly we all can’t be Martha Stewart. Just remember, you don’t have to whip up chicken parm pasta right off the bat in order to be considered an adult. Start small with a few easy dinner recipes and on those days when you can’t deal with stove-tops and cutting boards, remind yourself that adults eat cereal for dinner sometimes, too.
Getting To Work On Time
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Being an adult means being on time for work. Even if you’re the most punctual employee, things like traffic jams, stomach aches, and missed alarms all happen from time to time, and it’s okay to run a little behind schedule every once in a while. Having said that, though, being an adult means getting a job and keeping that job so you might want to work on not being fashionably late if you have a reputation for tardiness.
Resisting The Urge To Splurge
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The thing is, if you’re going to spend your hard-earned cash, you want to spend it the right way, because not everything in life is fully refundable, and there’s that whole needing-to-pay-bills situation when you become an adult, too. Even though you might have been a responsible teen, adulthood means having an even more responsible attitude toward your possessions and becoming more aware of how to better solve real-life problems.
Having A Steady Job
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This is a huge transition from having part-time jobs and internships throughout college. This is finally the time you have something you’ve been working so hard for. All those long nights writing papers and preparing for finals have finally paid off (literally). Now that you’re in the real world you have a real job to match that. By the time a steady paycheck starts rolling in it’s going to make you feel like you’ve got the whole “adulting” thing down-pat — because you do!
Being an adult isn’t easy, and you’ll always have support down the road, but this is the time where you should be proud of yourself. You’ve made it this far and are continuing to thrive and move forward with your life.
