Adulting: A Bear of a Necessity

Why is it so hard to grow up?

You have to work (even if you don’t have a job, you have to work at keeping house or watching the kids or finding a job). You have to wake up when you want to keep sleeping, you have to pay bills, you have to do all those grown-up things you didn’t consider when you were a kid.

Remember when you wanted to grow up? You thought it was all about driving and drinking (not at the same time, I hope), about being a teacher or pro football player or astronaut. You didn’t think about things like car payments, gas prices, hangovers, class assignments, grading papers, practice, injuries, rigorous physical testing, months in zero G with limited personal interactions … you just thought about the fun parts of being an adult.

Now you’re an adult, and it sucks. Even if you ended up with that dream job, you have to admit it: there are plenty of days when it sucks.

So what do you do? Is there any way to decrease the suckage of being an adult?

I could tell you to keep a positive outlook. I could tell you to look at all the good things and try not to focus on the bad things. I could … but I’m not going to.

At some point–usually at most points–adulting is going to suck. My advice? Deal with it. Sure, you’re going to moan and groan and bitch from time to time, but the bottom line is you need to suck it up and move on. Go to work even if you don’t feel like it. Get up when that alarm goes off. Clean the kitchen. Take that car in for its routine maintenance. Pay your taxes. You wanted to be an adult? Well, be an adult. It’s that simple…

…and it’s that hard.