Fear of Adulthood – Written By: Wendy C
Funny how life works, isn’t it? When you are a child, you yearn to have the freedom that comes with adulthood. And when you do finally become an adult? You ache to go back to the happier, carefree days of childhood. The interesting thing about this is that such thinking doesn’t kick in until you are actually an adult and can’t do anything about it! You see, as a child and particularly as a teenager, being an adult seems like the most desirable thing in the world. (Oh, how you can’t wait to be one!) Only later when you do become one, do you start to wonder if someone has played a cruel joke on you. Is this what adulthood is really like? It seemed so much better when you were younger! Now, some people are quicker than others to sense that adulthood is not all its cut out to be. As a result, these people have a growing Fear of Adulthood and try to delay the process (don’t ask me how) as much as they can!
But let’s backtrack for a second. What is an adult? According to dictionary.com, an adult is a person who, “…has arrived at full development or maturity especially in size, strength, or intellectual capacity”. Translation? An adult is a person who is expected to act their age. The dog ate my homework is no longer a viable excuse! Legally speaking, an adult is a person who is 18 years of age or older. Adults can vote, get married and in some countries like Canada, even drink! (Sorry to all my U.S. friends out there, you need to wait until 21!)
In addition to the three things mentioned above, there are a lot of other perks to being an adult that you would never in a million years have as a child. For instance, as an adult you get to stay up as late as you want! Heck, if you even want to skip going to sleep altogether, stay up all night and show up to work in the clothes you wore the day before, you could do that. No one’s going to stop you! As an adult, you get to have co-ed sleepovers without having to be all hush-hush about it! As an adult you don’t need anyone’s permission to do anything…except of course your boss when it comes to work related matters and your mom if you’re still a mama’s boy! (By the way, being a mama’s boy is a sure-fire way to repel girls!) As an adult, no longer do Santa Claus, The Boogeyman and The Tooth Fairy have elevated status! They can take an indefinite leave of absence until you have children of your own! As an adult, you get to do important things such as vote. It doesn’t matter if the batch of people nominated to represent your country all suck, you still get to pick which one of them sucks less! Finally and most importantly, as an adult you have money! No need to rely on your parents for allowance, now you get to rely on your boss!
All in all though, adulthood still rocks. Why? Because you have freedom! Sure, there are some responsibilities and consequences that come along with that freedom, but it’s still freedom! You can’t put a price on that! So embrace adulthood as you near it. Enjoy it too, because after those 47 years (do the math, 65-18 = 47), you are technically no longer considered an adult. That’s right; you become a (gasp!) senior citizen! That’s a whole other Fear you are going to have to face someday!
