As lezlers pointed out in a recent thread, being the adult sucks. I have been noticing that myself, lately, usually around the time that the fridge is empty and the house needs cleaning.
I think I’m feeling a little tired of being an adult, and doing everything I’m supposed to do and being responsible and looking after stuff. Anyone else there, too? Any advice on combatting this feeling?It’s not like the cleaning and grocery shopping and working for a living are going away any time soon. What adult things are you all tired of at the moment?
Let it all slide for a day or two, the world won’t come to an end (although you might have to eat out). Will the things that need to be done go away? No, and you’ll have to do them eventually, but if you don’t want to do it now, don’t.
The best part about being an adult, I think, is being able to evaluate the consequences of your actions (not cleaning the house today = living in a filthy house until tomorrow), and realizing that you’re fully capable of granting that consequence a different weight than, say, your mother would have.
Oh, I’m fully capable of letting it slide. But it never goes away. Ever. I can let it slide for a day or a week or a month, but it’s still there. And it’s not like you clean your house once and it’s done - no, you have to clean your house for the REST OF YOUR LIFE. You never get a break from your responsibilities until you DIE.
I hear you. For me, it’s like this: I get excited about wanting to do X, but then realize that I’ll need to do Y and Z to get X accomplished. And, as soon as I put X down on a list of things to do, what was so recently something I was excited about doing, has suddenly become a tiresome chore.
Maybe that’s a key difference between adulthood and childhood: as adults, we feel compelled to compose “to do lists”, and feel depressed when we don’t check things off them quickly enough.
Perhaps it’s time for another look at Ram Dass’ bok Be Here Now. I’ll add it to my to-do list…
I love to-do lists! It’s so satisfying to cross things out. I confess, if I make a to-do list after I’ve already done some of the things that needed to be done, I’ll write them in just so I can cross them out- it helps to see “Look! Look how much progress I made!”
I think what I hate most is being sick as an adult. Especially when I was living alone and had nobody to bring me soup and such. My SO is a sweetie, but it’s just not the same as having Mom take care of you, you know?
Tidying up and washing dishes. Not that I have to anymore ('cause who’se going to tell me?), but I don’t like things being messy and besides, What Will People Think?
These tasks can get old. But I had a lot less freedom as a child than I have as an adult. I can keep nothing nothing in the house but Captain Crunch, artichoke hearts, and bourbon if I like. I can leave my clothes on the floor. I can clean only when I’ve chosen to have people over. I always had chores; now I do them on my own schedule. What I really get annoyed by is tasks like brushing my teeth, which I do, but resent. However, I also had to do those as a child.
Sometimes being responsible all the time is a drag, but I can do so many things I couldn’t when I was a kid. I can pick my own friends, and I can go to any movie I want to, not just G-rated Disney movies. I’m going to have Fruity Cheerios for dinner tonight, just because I can! I’d be happier if I didn’t have to clean the bathtub, though.
My husband and I were talking about this today, and we came to the conclusion that it isn’t all the “have to’s” in our lives that are the problem (we understand that every life comes with “have to’s”), it’s that the “have to’s” are far outweighing the “want to’s.” Time to try to get a better balance, I think.
You know, (says the girl who just turned 28 and has stuffed animals on her bed), you can do a lot of that fun stuff if you’re an adult, too. I personally am going to make a huge snow-fort and drink hot chocolate in it as soon as we get decent snow. Housework and dignity be damned.
I hereby refuse to wash the dishes tonight before bed.
[SUB]No, I don’t. That will mean washing them tomorrow before work. Dammit. Fine, I’m eating peanut butter cups for dinner![/SUB]
I’m feeling this way too, mostly because most of my friends are still young adults at university, which means they still party etc. Not me the responsible teacher! I want to party again!
There is one advantage to being an adult – when you get old enough, you get to turn back into a child and let other people take care of you all over again. My grandmother lived to age 102, and although her mind was sharp as a tack, or maye because of it, she ended up having a large group of people catering to her every whim. If she’d been a real kid, she would have been a hopelessly spoiled one. But I want to be just like her when I grow up!.
What I hate most about being an adult right now? A couple things:
Remember when you could get up in the morning and not have anything aching anywhere? Yeah, those days are long gone. And it just sneaks up on you. One day you realize, hey, I ache every morning now! When did that start?
Remember when your mom made all the tough decisions? It sucks when she dumps that on you. Like when she let me be the ogre who had to put Grandmother in the nursing home because she didn’t have the nerve to face her.
However, peanut butter cups for dinner sounds good!
I want Commodore Justices, too (a drink a friend made up. It goes: vodka, melon liquer, coconut rum, amber rum, limoncello, white rum, granadine, lime juice, orange juice.). I’ve never seen anyone drink two without the walls getting all… bendy on them.
