Written by Jay Toy
Becoming an adult requires responsibility. Once you’re on your own, you’ll have to learn how to do certain things on your own. My mom would always say that she won’t be around forever and so I have to learn how to do something to prepare me for the real world. My aunt wanted to do the same thing for her kids except for when it came to chores. My older cousin is doing fine on his own and he’s managed by himself for a few years now. My younger cousin, however, isn’t because she would find ways to get out of chores. She would get paid for something that she asked her dad to do while she was lying around. My mom never paid my sister and I for the chores that we did “because cleaning the house isn’t a paying job” -mom. Being prepared for living on your own is a critical part of being an adult. You’d have to clean up after yourself and do chores even when you don’t want to because you have to do them. Here are two things you need to know before you’re ready to adult.
If you live with a roommate, try creating some cleaning schedule to make sure that one person isn’t carrying all the responsibilities. For example: you and your roommate can alternate each week between who takes out the trash. You could also make something where someone vacuums the floor while the other cleans the dishes. If you live with someone else, you and that person have to find a way to clean up and keep everything cleaned. If you don’t keep a steady cleaning schedule, things will get gross and there might be a lingering smell. No one wants that to happen because it’s a gross smell.
Another way to learn how to adult is to purchase your own groceries. Sometimes people feel like an adult when they buy groceries with their own money or when they get their own pet. They feel like they are becoming more responsible. A lot of people romanticize getting a pet or food shopping by saying things like “This’ll be easy!” or “My house will look like this when I’m an adult!” In reality, you have to get the necessary food you need without blowing all your shopping money on the newest game or all on expensive coffee. So getting your own groceries might make you feel like you are an adult.
These two reasonings may be short but they are effective. College students would do things like these because they’re either ready to live on their own or they’re preparing themselves for when they get a house. Being an adult sounds like such a chore and kids want to stay kids forever because they don’t want to let go of their childhood. Becoming an adult doesn’t have to be about letting go. It could be about new life and reminiscing while experiencing new things. Being an adult doesn’t have to be as scary as it seems.
Sources: sister, cousin, mom, friend
Quotes: mom, instagram meme makers, 7 year old me