Now, I can go on and on in these blogs about the little things I've been doing this summer like playing video games, or knitting, or reading Harry Potter on the treadmill, or doing whatever else I fill my time up with these days, but it all boils down to me trying really really really hard to ignore the fact I'm no longer a teenager and that I have to do grown-up things. This task has been made much easier by the fact that I couldn't find a job anywhere near-by that didn't mind hiring a girl who has never used a cash register in her life for only three months, and that I decided not to take any summer classes (due to the fact I wanted to find a full-time job).
However, today I did have to do some grown-up things like accepting financial aid so I can go to school this year (they should really change the "accept all" button to "click here to add thousands of dollars to your already sizable debt!") and registering for tests I need to take to get into the teaching program at Western.
This got me thinking about a few things, mostly concerning becoming an adult. Well, at least in age anyway. With my Disney obsession, dressing up in costumes, playing with toys , and making up imaginary worlds to write about points something different. But my point is that it does seem like the reasons little kids want to be grown-ups aren't really good reasons at all. With every additional bit of freedom you get as an adult, you get a multiple amount of that of responsibility attached to it. It's like an equation. With F=freedoms and R=responsibilities F*10=OMG R?! Like, yay! I get to drive! But oh yeah, you get to deal with running errands, putting in gas, thinking about car insurance, and the odd car accident here and there. Or, yay! I get to go to college and live on my own! But, oh yeah, you have to come up with want you want to do with your life, deal with mounting debt and/or getting a job to pay for college, finding a place to live, and everything else that comes with college and living on your own.
Then again, there is one other thing I thought about. As a kid, it seems like we're bombarded with this notion of having dreams. Adults always ask little kids what they want to be when they grow up (and mostly you get answers like princesses or ballerinas. Or maybe those are the answers I got because I always asked the four-year-olds in the ballet class I helped with). Cinderella teaches us that a "dream is a wish your heart makes" and whatnot. However, what's interesting about becoming an adult is that those dreams can become goals. Since I've been a little kid, I've wanted to travel and explore the world, and live somewhere completely different for a while. Now that I'm older, I've got a plan in place and a goal I'm working towards to get that dream. So maybe we have to deal with paying bills and college loans, but to think back to that little girl and her dreams being able to tell her that as an adult you can make that happen? Well, maybe this grown-up thing isn't so bad after all.
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I think people very much confuse the difference between acting like a kid and being an adult. Responsibilities can sometimes be a hassle (such as when you have to watch money quickly leave your account, thank you bills and rent), but they don't mean you give up that kid inside you.
ReplyDeleteThe kid doesn't die to become the adult.
And like you said, being an adult just means that you have a greater capacity to make your dreams a reality :D
You're going to have so much fun in Japan and anywhere else your feet take you.
...I'm gonna stop sounding like a greeting card now.
Well, I guess I meant really. That we should keep hold of our childhood dreams and that want to go and do crazy things because when you're an adult you can finally figure out ways to actually do them.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't disagreeing, just putting in my own words. I do that >_>
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