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Taylor Swift did not properly prepare me for this!
There is an age, friends, in which conquests are few and challenges are rampant. I’m not talking about the Bronze Age (in which both conquests and challenges were rampant), I’m talking about the second year of the second decade of our lives.
A friend from college texted me yesterday asking how life was treating me. The only response I could think of was Girls, Fifty Shades of Grey, and my sexually liberated older cousin did not properly prepare me for this stage of life. Where is this rich and mysterious executive who’s waiting to take me on a plane ride through his sick, twisted heart? That’s an adventure I’d enjoy.
Instead, I told my friend that I was simply riding the roller coaster of life, and holding on is a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. Fortunately, I’m not the only one riding this confusing, terrifying, magical roller coaster called emerging adulthood and here are some of the ups and downs that come with it:
1. There’s so much responsibility:
“Independence is great,” they said. “You only have to rely on yourself,” they said. They forgot to mention juggling financial responsibilities with the responsibilities of having a job and also trying to fit in a social life is much easier said than done. It becomes increasingly more challenging when the safety net is removed from below you and if you drop something, you mess up your entire week…or month…or life.
In college, you could fail a test, sleep through work, or totally screw up in some other way and it was not the end of the world. Usually, somebody gave you a few extra chances providing you showed you really wanted it. This safety net disappeared the second they handed us a diploma, told us to get a job, and reminded us that taxes are something real now.
2. College did not teach us how to budget:
Neither did high school or my parents. In fact, at no point in my life has anybody sat me down and taught me how to manage my personal finances. Instead, they said “personal finance? That doesn’t sound very important. The mitochondria is the power house of the cell.”
3. We do not know how to date:
For the first time in my life, I’m not dating people just to kill time. I’m actually looking for somebody with similar interests as me who can better my life, act as an emotional support, and push me to be the best version of myself.
Of course, it would probably be easier to find this if I could just put the Tinder machine down for a hot sec.
4. Drinking wine alone and watching Netflix feels like a Friday night well-spent:
The challenge here has nothing to do with the fact that I don’t want to go out. The problem is that I have yet to find fun things to do on Friday nights. Bottle service with that greasy promoter Stacey slept with, no longer feels like a night well-spent.
Instead, I’d rather spend my night at the perfect Hipster bar that’s hosting a stand-up comedy night on Friday. I even know if I rallied the squad and put the effort in letting Google search for me, I could find this elusive beast. But, it sounds like a lot of work, and my fingers are tired from typing all day, and the wine is right there, and seriously, I can just go out next Friday instead.
5. The quarter-life crisis is a real thing:
Back in the good old day, humans used to wait until the middle of their lives to have a crisis. They’d buy a shiny red car, date a much younger model, and get a mohawk.
However, the Millennial generation, which has never been known for its patience, expedited the identity crises and made it happen a few decades earlier than is expected. Now, at age 22, none of us know who we are, none of us want to commit to anything long-term, and we all know we don’t have it figured out.
But cheer up, 23 is just around the corner, and by that point we should have a handle on things, right?
[Featured Image Credit: HBO]
