What Adulthood Means to Me

Just because I am 22 years old, 90%financially independent of my parents, living in a new city on my own, and pursuing my dreams does not automatically make me an adult. An age, the ability to vote, drink, buy porn, or even financial independence are the least of the things that make a person an adult. It is true that as an adult I can walk to McDonalds in my PJs at 4 in the afternoon, eat raw cookie dough for breakfast, or stay up till 3 in the morning on a weeknight watching reruns of Friends. But does this make me an adult or just an independent child? Now don't get me wrong I will continue to be an independent child for as long as possible.

However I have decided that I want to attempt to be more of a true adult. This is not going to change everything but I am hoping it will manifest itself in some small changes that will help me look and feel more grown up and more professional. 

Buy more groceries 

While I find it totally acceptable to eat raw cookie dough for breakfast I should probably stop resorting to ordering in $30 of Chinese food just for the egg roll and soup. Even though I am a long way from making all my meals from scratch I am getting closer. The past week I only ordered in or ate out once. Progress!! 

Look more professional

During college I more or less perfected the tired theatre student grunge look. I sported the ponytail, jeans, sweatshirt outfit 7 days a week. Dont expect a full What Not to Wear transformation but I have made it my goal to reserve my baggy sweatshirts for the weekend and at the very least put on a nice pair of jeans and a nice sweater during the week. I am pretty low maintenance so makeup is a struggle for me in the morning, but a little mascara goes a long way and only takes a minute or so to put on. Baby steps! 

Open a savings account 

Nothing says being an adult like financial security not just financial independence but security. I will be moving apartments soon and some extra money for moving costs would be nice. Not to mention I would like to start a little mest egg in the event that I ever tour and need a little extra cash. I might even want to invest some money (Gasp!) in the near future. Ahhh, adulthood is closing in on me... I am thinking rationally and saying things like "financial security" and "nest egg."

Ok, so maybe I am still be far from proactively planning homemade meals, owning a whole weeks worth of presentable outfits, or even something crazy like purchasing my first home. But becoming an adult doesn't happen overnight with your 21st birthday power hour hangover and I like to think of myself as an adult so I guess I should start acting like one.