The 8 Key Ways I Know I'm An Adult
With the two-year anniversary of my graduation looming, I’ve been somewhat forced into self-reflection about the ways in which my life has changed since I was a student. I have precious few months left in which I can claim to be a “graduate” (according to my bank anyway), and as such, I thought I’d muse on the main ways my life is different now that I’m – allegedly - an adult*…
1. When someone asks me ‘what’s new?’, I no longer have anything to say for myself. No new modules, no new society or sports club engagements, no terrible dating stories. Nothing.
2. I’ve stopped feeling comfortable bringing unwashed laundry home to my mum’s.
3. I bragged about making a filing system for about a week. Even this is a humble brag, really.
4. I’m aware that every day, I turn a little bit more into my father.Not even in a cool Jedi-esque way, either.
5. I’m overly proud of myself for going to the dentist for the first time since leaving school.
6. I’ve started looking at the “wheel of nutritional guilt” before deciding whether or not to eat something.
For the record, I’ve never yet convinced myself not to eat the thing. (I work hard. I deserve this. Thank you, Parks and Rec, for introducing me to Treat Yoself.)
7. When I go out, I am now the creepy older local in the bar, rather than a student – which is a whole new level of nightmare.
8. And finally, I’ve come in at 4am after a night out and said the words “I feel like a young person”… which has immediately made me realise that this actually makes me an old person.
But off course, there are some perks to being two years post-graduation. Most of my friends and I have fixed addresses, steady incomes, and are genuinely the most stable we’ve been in years. Our nights out might be fewer and further between, but generally speaking involve less drama.
The best things, though, are these: I’m watching my friends starting their careers (gross), getting into the relationships they’re going to be in for the rest of their lives (grosser) and even saving up for housing deposits (grossest of all), meaning they’ve got through the rough and ready patch of leaving university and are on the cusp of working out who they are outside of that sphere, which is awesome to see. So, misery and sarcasm aside, there are some great ways of knowing we’re adults* too.
*By the way, I actually refute all claims that I am anything close to an adult: I think I’m closer to three kids hiding in a big coat, hence no relationship or housing deposit anywhere in sight. But… all points still stand.
- Andy King
