Being an adult isn’t always fun. When you are growing up, our parents made the decisions. We had it easy because we could always blame our parents for the decisions we didn’t like. I remember one huge decision my dad made when I was a sophomore in high school. He was a preacher and decided that God wanted us to move to another city. It was the only time I could remember that I didn’t want to move. I protested because I wanted to finish my last two years of high school. It didn’t matter. We moved.
Now when I make a decision, it’s all on me.
I was looking back at some of the major things I have experience which makes adulting hard. Here are the ones that stand out:
Buying a house
There is nothing more stressful in the life of an adult than buying or selling a house. Only once has the experience been a smooth transition. The other five times have been the worst experiences in my adult life. When you are buying or selling a house it has always felt like no one was on our side and it was a struggle throughout the process. In the last house purchase we had to fight to deal with a Radon issue and at the last minute the seller agreed to install a system. It shouldn’t be so difficult to buy/sell a house.
Buying a car
Another unpleasant experience is buying a car. I hate the process. It takes a long time to get it done. Sitting in the dealership for hours is a torture I prefer to avoid if at all possible. It’s very frustrating to deal with a salesman to SAYS he/she can get you in the ballpark but they never seem to be able to do that. The going back and forth to the manager is torture. I have walked out more than once on a car deal.
Changing jobs
It is always stressful to change jobs. I will soon be doing this and I am both nervous and excited about it. The interview process isn’t enough to tell the real scoop about a new job and you don’t find out until you start. There are so many personalities to deal with and agendas people have that you don’t know about until you start finding out when you start the job. Job security is a scary thing.
Death of a loved one
This is certainly not an enjoyable part of being an adult. Unfortunately the longer we live, the more chances we will have to absorb the pain of losing a loved one. It’s going to happen whether we expect it or not. I lost my dad a few years ago and sometimes the grief sneaks up on me out of nowhere.
It’s funny how we are so quick to want to grow up and become an adult when we are teenagers but when it happens, we realize just how much responsibility lands on our shoulders when we become adults. No, it isn’t always bad but I don’t think we actually know what it will be like until we become adults.
Life happens to us all and the only thing we can do is simply take it one day at a time. We aren’t always prepared for everything that will happen but we can only do our best and learn from our mistakes.
