After leaving college and getting a full time job, the realization of actually becoming a real adult truly hit me. My parents no longer needed to help me or support me financially. As a millennial, we came up with the term called "adulting." Adulting is now a verb that gives being an adult an action. I had different perspectives of what this day would be like. The official cut off wasn't as hard as I expected until the realization hit later that week. I finally said, "Wow, I'm officially on my own now! What do I do next?" My next steps were a little difficult to take on. The understanding that everything costs and the things my parents used to pay for I now took over myself.
My dad texted me one day saying we needed to have an adult conversation. I would always say in college that I was an adult already, but was I truly an adult while still being on mom and dad's bank account? I was only that person when it came to financial accounts that liked to have a certain amount in the account. It could not be anything less. When I was having this adult conversation with my dad, we discussed many things when it comes to becoming an official adult and how to make a budget. I even rubbed off on my dad to use the term "adulting."
The most common way people use the term adulting is by saying "Adulting is hard." I truly didn't know the meaning of that statement until recently. I wanted to take on more adult responsibility and no longer wanted to get my parents involved in things that I knew I could take care of. It all started with coming up with a budget. I start inputting all my balances that I usually spent during a typical month (rent, groceries, entertainment and etc). By the end of it, I had a major headache and just wanted to got to bed. Budgets slightly crush your dreams and brings you back to the real world of living.
So adulting can mean many things to millennials. It can mean more responsibility, the realization of having to deal with adult like stress and living the life of actually being cut off to learn life lessons that will change you forever. I would agree that adulting is hard at first, but with time and lessons it will get easier. A budget for me in the next couple of years won't give me a headache. It will be like second nature. Adulting is hard, but it's a chance for a millennial (like me) to grow and figure out how to live life to the fullest.
To my millennial readers, cheers to being an adult and learning from adulting. Comment below with some of your adulting stories.