How does one judge when they leave the realm of childhood and plunge head long into adulthood? Job? Parenthood? Owning a home?
I’ve done the three of those and there are still times I find myself in situations saying, “What the hell do I know, I’m just a kid?”
I’ve done the three of those and there are still times I find myself in situations saying, “What the hell do I know, I’m just a kid?”
For all of my looking I have not found the magic yardstick or age where Creskin the Magician poofs into existence and says “Congratulations, you are now an adult. Go forth!”
I have however found one measure of at least feeling grown up.
Choices.
Daily one is faced with choices that he or she must make. Normally the choices made can reflect whether you are feeding the child inside or stepping on the flagstones of adulthood keeping you out of the mud and muck of ignorant decisions.
Most of these are easy choices, at least for some. The tough ones come when they are long burning childhood ambitions. The kind of choices that bring out the giddy kid and the realist adult to battle it out like the angel and devil sitting on your shoulder. We all have tick lists, or bucket lists, or life lists, whatever you chose to call them. All of us want to accomplish the items on those lists. Sometimes, the chance to check off some of those items can come at opportune times, where it seems like it is meant to happen. Others produce themselves at inopportune times, which is where the crucial decisions come into play. Do you act impulsively, or do you make the “adult” decision? What makes that decision even harder, is when the opportunity presents itself, and it is the last opportunity you will get.
The funny thing about life lists, bucket lists, and tick lists is that they are “user specific”. What is on my tick list, isn’t necessarily what is on your tick list. Some of the things on my tick list, might make people look at me as if I were a crazy person, and vice versa. So when one struggles with the aforementioned decision, it can make them appear as a weepy, wistful, nostalgic child. Again, what is on my list is mine, and your list is yours. If someone has to ask you “Why?” about something on your list, they do not understand, and even explaining it to them will not make them understand.
The cool thing about adulthood, is that one learns that hearing about ones adventures can be almost as good as being there, especially when it relates to a common interest, and even a common tick list item. Seeing one’s face that has checked off a mark on their tick list, can bring immense joy to others.
Temporarily pacifying the giddy impulsive child inside.
