When I Grow Up
No one ever told me how much fun it was to grow up. Everyone always warned me “life is hard; don’t grow up too quickly.”
Call me young and naïve, but I quite enjoy it.
This year I am a full-time senior student at CBU committed to two jobs, a boyfriend and a local church and college group.
Despite all this busyness, I find adult life very stimulating.
However, sometimes when you are in college you still feel like everyone else is an adult and you are just a pretender. You still have teachers telling you what you need to do. Everyone around you looks so much older, and you feel like you somehow sneaked in as a teenager into the strange world of college by accident. There are certain things that cause you to really grow up.
One of these things is an increasing amount of responsibility. I have always loved responsibility. Lots of responsibility means loads of planning, which is definitely my forte. I am pretty sure I am just one Excel spreadsheet away from planning what will go on every minute of my day — a pretty good thing for a busy college student.
At the end of the day, being an adult means I have to regulate my own life instead of parents making my schedule. This change is so liberating! Don’t get me wrong; I love my parents. But getting to choose for myself whether I will hang out with friends makes me feel like an adult instead of a kid masquerading as one.
Having a real job is another “grown-up” aspect of college life. One thing I enjoy about having a job is the sense of stability and independence it gives me. I work at the front desk of the Academic Resource Center, and I love every minute of it. Some days I wear my “big-girl” heels and feel like I am playing “dress up” as a real working adult. But earning money every time I get a paycheck feels like a real accomplishment. I work hard to save my money so that I can put it towards something that I need — not like a teenager who spends her paycheck as soon as she gets it. It makes me feel so responsible knowing that I can handle money and save it for important things.
Maybe some day I will be recognized as a real adult without having to wear my grown up outfit. But until then, I am having a great time growing up and becoming a real adult.
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