I have heard the above question so often from people of my generation and slightly younger, or the other iteration being, I don't want to be an adult yet... And frankly, it's starting to make me sick.
Being an adult seems to me to either be an insult, whether directed at yourself or others, a way to admonish behaviour that is undesirable to some people or this false sense of achievement. It feels like a cumbersome word which often grows too heavy and we have a desire to put it down and can't. Quite frankly, the idea of being an adult can get lost.
If we were really going to talk about it, I think there is one thing that is quite important to me and that is that being an adult is something either biological - you are now past a particular point in development where you are to be considered an adult - or a journey, a bit like happiness, rather than some destination which we reach and then stagnate in. If we're going to talk about it, it can be that more gentle maturing - which is not gentle at all - in your twenties and thirties, which is more the process of getting your **** together. At some point, most of us get to the stage where home improvements and granola are facts of life, even if they don't make us as truly happy as they make some people.
The reason I would like the whole thing to take a long walk off of a short pier is because I think the concept is more damaging than helpful.
Today I got through some things that a lot of people would call "adulting". I made my lunch to take to work with me, I did the work things and I even did laundry (there is a certain pride point there because I normally leave it until my wardrobe looks ransacked and you can't see the laundry hamper, so go me!) but I also sat on the floor for most of the evening, not because I don't have a sofa, and put together a Lego statue of a panda bear. It says 5+ and I'm over five, so it is technically my age range. That's something that a lot of people would see as childish, but I bought granola for my breakfast. Also a point, I have started eating breakfast. Periodically. Not all the time. Depends how awake I am.
I am rather unashamed of the fact that I will sit on the floor and build Lego toys or do other things that are called childish, partly because I enjoy them and partly because it's good for me. There are proven benefits of things like finger painting and playing with Lego bricks for wellbeing and stress relief and I am all about that. Granted, I may hide my Lego figures the next time my mum comes over...
The reason I am writing this is because I still feel a sense of, guilt isn't quite the word, but I can't think of a better one, when I indulge in childish things. It's almost like, this is acceptable behind closed doors, but outside, we must be perfectly put together career driven adults on a particular path, and really, I want to get that idea out of my head. Being an adult isn't from a particular age and there isn't a rule book, so let's just go with it.
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