By Erin Mikson
Sports Editor
As a kid I wanted to grow up and be treated like an adult. Yet now I’m here in the midst of finals as a sophomore wishing I was a kid again. No responsibilities, scheduled nap times, still learning the ways of life, and my mom making my favorite home cooked meals. Why is being an adult so great?
There are no instructions for how to adult that come on your eighteenth birthday. Only a card from your parents that read “Welcome to adulthood!” followed by a scratch ticket. And there are certainly no instructions that come when you walk across the stage getting your college diploma. Everyday we wake up and just wing it.
Money, money, money. Unfortunately the rumors are not true, it doesn’t grow on trees. As a kid my parents bought me food and clothes. I think they forgot to mention how expensive it really is to be an adult. As a college student, I can barely even afford my $2 bagel at Einstein’s. And surprise! The way tuition keeps rising, we will most likely be paying off your college loans until our late 30’s.
Seriously what are kids seeing that I’m not about the power of adulting?
We are attacked at holiday parties, where the talk of the table is littered with loaded questions like “How’s school going? How are the grades? What’s your major? What are you gonna do with that major? Still single? Applied for any internships?”
Maybe my family is actually right. Maybe I can’t just wing it anymore. Being an adult typically means walking hand in hand with being employed.
Before getting hired for a job you need to apply and undergo an interview(s). A 2010 study at the University of Nebraska at Omaha found that college students feared public speaking more than death. Should that worry us?? If speaking to peers in more feared than death how on earth will this generation survive an interview for their first real job?
Whether you’re a senior, junior, sophomore, or first year in college, the fear of adulthood will eventually hit you. No one will be buying your groceries anymore, putting gas in your car, or paying for your phone bill except you. Adulthood is unfamiliar. But so was college at one point and you seem to have made it this far.
Being an adult will be filled with really high highs, very low lows, happiness, heartbreak, new beginnings, sad endings, and all the other pieces of life. Adulthood didn’t come with instructions.
It is not going to be easy, but it is manageable.
Most people don’t even know what they are going to have for dinner. So let’s not freak out about post college adulting. While slowly but surely approaching my halfway mark at college, I still have no idea what I am doing. Frankly, I have no idea how I even made it this far. I guess winging it really does work.