Written By: Lexi Herrick
Look at you, you’re starting to look like a grown-up or something.
1. You don’t feel the need to gossip anymore.
2. Jealously is futile and starts to fade away as a controlling force of your mind.
3. You handle conflict directly, maturely, and respectively.
4. You know how to apologize and admit fault.
5. You stop chasing the people who don’t want you. You are over the chase, and want to devote your efforts to people who deserve them.
6. You can, and do, say no. Even if you are pressured, you don’t need to please the masses when it means doing something that isn’t in your best interest.
7. You have more self-control.
8. You haven’t the time, nor the effort, to play games. You are honest and straight-forward about your intentions.
9. You appreciate your parents. You are thankful for the people in your life who have worked tirelessly to do what’s best for you, even if you didn’t know it at the time.
10. You start wanting to talk about what really matters. A need for more provoking and engaging conversation develops.
11. Time with friends starts becoming a little different. You’re more considerate of one another. You’re more appreciative of the time you have to spend with them, because it becomes increasingly more difficult to have.
12. You gain more patience.
13. Productivity provides you with more fulfillment than it once did.
14. You live by your own standards.
15. You start to eliminate people that have become parasites to your happiness and success in life.
16. You care more about your health and realize how directly your choices can affect the way you feel.
17. You find yourself more concerned with what is going on in the world around you. You actually want to keep up with the news and understand your surroundings.
18. You make more of an attempt to be organized and timely.
19. You let go of grudges and realize how meaningless they truly are.
20. You exercise politeness and respect, and value both qualities in others.
21. You stand by your convictions.
22. You more carefully consider the effects of your decisions.
23. You’re proud of who you’re becoming, and find yourself looking for ways to further grow as a person.
24. Your career becomes more important to you.
25. So does your future.
26. You have realized who your true friends are.
27. Your idea of “going out” changes a good bit, as many of your priorities do.
28. Actually, the concept of “staying in” doesn’t carry near the negativity that it used to. It actually sounds pretty freaking awesome some nights.
29. You want what’s best for others. You don’t feel like you’re in some weird competition with the rest of the world.
30. You want to learn more and more every day.
31. You’re braver.
32. You’re stronger.
33. You know your strengths and weaknesses.
34. You’re confident in who you are. You know what matters to you now. You know who and what is worth fighting for. You are still you, full of life and laughter, but you’re a version of yourself that you’ve been building for a long time. You’ve fallen on your face. You’ve made the wrong decisions, but you have learned. You have grown, and you will only continue to grow. You’re becoming that daunting “adult” term, and it’s lovely.
Being an adult doesn’t mean locking in the 9-5 life and procreating. Being an adult doesn’t mean having everything figured out. Being an adult isn’t some threshold you pass through at a fully mature and developed stage of life. There really isn’t one anyway. Adulthood is a journey into strength and self-empowerment. Being an adult means being who you are. It means experiencing and appreciating the aspects of life you learned were worth your efforts. It’s an opportunity. It’s courageousness. It’s kindness. It’s thankfulness. It’s respect. It’s knowledge. It’s life, and here you are starting to figure some of it out. So, good for you. Rejoice in the wonders of a lifetime of growth.
Photo Credit: We Heart It
