Monday Mantra: The Magic of Being an Adult

A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation".

Every Monday I will post a new thought, idea, or focus for the week. When you need a breather from life, when you need a little inspiration, or when you're about to jump over the conference table and strangle your co-worker, remember the mantra.

Monday Mantra: Adulting is hard

Society6
Anna Dorfman

Being an adult is weird.

You get to do whatever you want, like stay up late and eat ice cream for breakfast and watch an entire TV show on Netflix in one night just because you can. But being an adult means having this thing called "responsibility," which basically means paying bills and mowing the lawn and doing laundry that never, ever ends, so you don't actually get to do whatever you want like five-year-old you thought you would.

And when it comes to age, you don't necessarily feel old. You're still silly and you goof off with your friends and you really don't feel all that different from twenty-year-old you. Somehow, though, at the exact same time you feel like a dinosaur in need of a nap. Like, every damn day. You also start wondering what's up with kids these days and the awful music they listen to, because the music of your time was way, waaaaaay better. You find yourself saying this out loud to your friends, who agree with you, and suddenly you realize you've become your mom/dad- just like that.

You talk about the weather with your friends on the regular. Rain and snow and temperature become very, very, very important to you.

You read magazines like Better Homes and Gardens and Redbook and you actually enjoy them.

Your retirement could not get here soon enough because you feel like you've been working for a fazillion years. At the same time, you want your 401k to be worth a fazillion dollars, so you keep chugging along, trying to figure out what the hell a stable market fund is and why it doesn't look very stable.

You most definitely decide the value of doing things based on how much effort it will take. "I should go buy groceries, but then I'd have to get dressed and I don't really feel like putting on pants, so I think I'll pass."

At the same time that you're feeling all of these weird adult-y things, you're also enjoying life like you never have before.

You don't care about what other people think of you or how you look to them because you're finally comfortable in your own skin.

You've achieved at least some of your goals and you are immensely proud of yourself for that.

You have solid, strong, decades long friendships that bring you joy in life in ways nothing else does.

You do get to do whatever you want, to a degree, and you know it's better than living at home with your mom and dad.

Being an adult is weird, but it's also pretty damn awesome.