Adulting is Hard!

As many wise people have said many a times that “ Adulting is Hard”. But is it really?

When I was a kid, I used to dream about being a grown-up — an adult living life completely on her own terms. That used to be the dream. Being an adult. Staying out late, going out without needing permission from parents, coming back whenever I wanted, wearing whatever I liked — that freedom was what adulting meant to me as a kid.

Well,now many years later, now that I am an adult, I can finally live that life. Or at least, that’s what I thought. Sadly, the dream still feels unfinished. I still need to run my plans by my parents. Staying out late is rare because I’ve become an early bird. I don’t wear everything I once imagined I would, because over time I developed my own sense of style and comfort.Freedom is there but, with that freedom comes a shit ton of responsibility now — something I conveniently ignored as a kid.

Adulting is not just about you. If you think so you’re not a grown-up yet. You begin thinking about your parents and siblings, who are growing older too. Their age never paused while you were busy growing up. You grew, they aged. One day, you suddenly notice your mom and dad taking a handful of medicines for the deficiencies you weren’t even taught at school. You start disagreeing with them because their thoughts and opinions don’t align with yours. You argue with them, try to explain how this modern world works, and slowly find yourself teaching them the same A to Z of life that they once taught you. Adulting is also watching your sibling achieve her dream and feeling prouder than anyone else possibly could. My elder sister, who once used to scold me for getting math sums wrong, is now out there breaking barriers that were designed to hold women back. I’ve seen her work endlessly, every single day, to build the life she dreamed of.

And maybe that’s what adulting in it’s complete sense is.

Not just freedom, but responsibility. Not just independence, but understanding and not just growing older, but growing wiser.

Adulting is everything I never imagined it would be as a child. It’s exhausting, emotional, beautiful, and terrifying all at once. A wake-up call that slowly opens our eyes to the realities of life — while teaching us how to keep moving forward anyway.