When I first saw that a few years ago, I identified with it a lot. Since then, we bought an extreme fixer-upper house with a bunch of land and a few horses, and now: not so much. I love all the renovation and farm chores, and I just don’t feel like doing adult stuff is such a bother anymore. I still spend too much time online, but I also accomplish a lot, and I’m much happier. I’ve always loved to cook, so the nacho thing never applied.
Yes, I identified with that cartoon ever since I first saw it. I wish she’d put up some new stuff. The pain scale is hilarious too.
If it’s any comfort, there’s been many days where I’ve thought “Why do I have to eat dinner every night?”
Ah, for People Kibble.
Also just because you enjoy the mundane things of life - which I often do - doesn’t mean you can’t still feel like this. What, dishes have to be washed every day?! Sometimes twice a day? What, are you kidding me?
(And then there are chores I love. I LOVE doing laundry.)
I don’t delay my chores - I am happy and proud to say I have murdered the habit of procrastination I had most of my life. straight up murdered it. But still!
No, not particularly. I have days where I don’t feel like doing chores, or where I’ve spent sixteen hours at work and can’t possibly face cooking, or whatever, but certainly not in this kind of endless loop of good intentions and procrastination. It’s funny to read, but not really applicable to my life.
She just did.
I would have to say that when I saw that post several years ago, it was a real eye opener to me.
I thought that my wife and I were the only one. Everyone else in the world was so good at being an adult and just made it happen.
I am not alone!
By the way, who are all you people who say you like doing these things? Are you human? Do you all take multi-vitamins or something? I bet you all enjoy getting up at 6 in the morning? Gosh I wish I were one of those people. Life would be so much easier.
Here’s a related and possibly useful question.
Who thinks they would have said they identified with it at some time in the past, but now think they have gotten past thinking that way. And if there is anyone here who fits that description, how did you get from there to where you are now?
Absolutely. In my twenties, I used to giggle at doing ‘grown up things’. I remember attending my first bbq with friends and having a moment when I realised this was the first time I’d done this without being one of the children of the invited families.
Even in my early thirties, I used to claim that I still felt the same as I did in my early twenties. I definitely don’t now. I feel like an adult, and I like feeling like an adult. 
Me, too. I related hard-core to her depression story, and I relate to this one too, particularly with the avoidance behavior. Depression is fundamentally about avoidance, and when you are struggling with depression it takes a monumental amount of effort to do very simple things.
I relate less now than I did when I was younger. I don’t feel like I’m pretending to be an adult, I just sometimes resent that I am one. Probably one of the biggest shifts for me was going from the academic realm to the working world. I’m not implying grad school isn’t the ‘‘real world’’ because I think that’s stupid. But for me, personally, it brought a change of perspective, basically, ‘‘If I don’t do this, then nobody will ever do it, and it will never get done.’’ In grad school I was very much grounded in the world of ideas, but in the working world it becomes really nuts-and-bolts and pragmatic.
Who still goes to the bank? I think its been half a decade since I’ve been inside one.
But don’t really relate to the wider point of the cartoon though. Doing stuff like cleaning, shopping, etc. is usually what I do when I want to avoid doing work work. Its kinda mindless, I can listen to podcasts and zone out, and when I’m done I can say I’ve accomplished something, even though it’s pretty trivial to do.
(Though I do share the habit of procrastinating on returning phone calls, then feeling guilty about it and procrastinating more.)
What is it about going to the bank that is adultish? What does one do in a bank that is of an adult nature, or even difficult. One makes deposits, one withdraws money? I do that at home now on my computer, like most folks. I’m genuinely puzzled.
Because going to the bank fucking sucks and nobody likes doing it.
(Doesn’t anybody else have checks sitting in their wallet that need to be deposited, like, last week? That’s just a drive through thing but it still sucks balls.)
If I get any cheques, they’re a minor hassle, but not too big, as there’s an ATM across the street and I can just endorse and feed them into the slot.
I’m going to have to go into the bank while they’re open sometime soon, though; to get a US money order made out for at least a thousand dollars. (Residence fees for Saint Anselm College this summer.)
While not specifically addressed in the comic, going to the bank as a kid was AWESOME. Free lollipops! Tall counters! The safe deposit box! When you go to the bank as an adult --especially at this point in time – it’s usually because there’s a problem. (Though I do love using my bank’s ATMs – the interface is really cool.)
As for the other points – chores suck because they’re so dull and yet so very necessary. I do go into “CLEAN ALL THE THINGS” mode every now and then though, with surprisingly good results.
I used to procrastinate more although I’ve never had a “system failure” experience. I’m more afraid of the awful unknown disasters that will happen if I don’t get important chores done, than I am of just getting them done.
The procrastination on littler things like laundry and dishes ended soon after my daughter was born. I discovered that I do have the stamina to keep up with the chores, and I no longer have the stamina to put up with undone chores: desperately searching for clean clothes, putting up with a badly made bed, or washing dishes before I start to cook. Slacking off isn’t an option. I don’t have time for it.
I agree with the sentiment that sure, even though I love doing routine chores, sometimes I put them off for a day or two because it’s tough to love doing something EVERY day. But I don’t feel like I’m failing at being an adult, and it never gets so bad to the point where I feel like I haven’t grown up yet.
When I was a kid I was a messy, procrastinating, lazy slob. I wasn’t trying to be an adult though. When I moved out into my own in college, I grew up fast. I picked up my towels and hung them after each shower instead of letting them sit wet on the floor. I didn’t let my bedroom turn into another episode of Hoarders. I cooked regularly and kept my kitchen clean. I paid my bills. I went to the bank when I needed to. Etc. I just, acted like a grown up when I needed to. And I still do today.
ETA: Just read Sattua’s response, and I agree completely. I don’t have the stamina to deal with undone chores. The stress that undone chores cause is way, way greater than doing them.
I was a complete slacker until 2007, when I got my first 9-5 job. Now I go to work from 9-5, law school from 6-9, and spend more or less all the hours in between reading cases. Of course, every time I start to believe I’m doing something impressive, I remember that a number of people in the program have full time jobs and kids. One of them has even given birth twice since we started.
Yeah, this. It’s not terrible onerous or difficult in any way for me to do these basic things–making my bed, washing dishes, doing laundry. It IS difficult and frustrating when I have no clean dishes, or clean clothes, or a messy bedroom. I don’t like it. I just don’t find all the daily tasks of living to be challenging or frustrating or boring or whatever in any way–it’s just something that you do.
It wasn’t going to the bank that struck me. It was when I opened my first safety deposit box. Here I am being all motherfucking responsible!
It took me 2 weeks to buy chairs for the dining room table because no one else would make the decision and I was terrified I’d fuck up and buy a style I’d hate and have no one to blame for it.