Musings & Marginal Madness: Adulthood

            There should be some higher-level qualifications required to obtain adulthood, turning eighteen just isn’t enough.  I remember when I was a senior in high school: it was terrifying talking to some of my peers.  Some of them didn’t know how to fill their car with gas or how to use a washing machine!  And we were about to be released into the world as “adults”.

            I suppose my annoyance with the whole concept of adulthood is that the word "adult" really only deals with physical growth.  Think about it: if you go on a zoo tour you’ll probably be told various facts about the animals at certain developmental stages.  For example: “An adult tiger eats around fifty pounds of meat a day.”  All that adulthood implies for most species is physical maturity, and that’s fine.  Adult giraffes don’t have to file taxes or know how to make a compelling résumé!  Their life decisions mostly entail whether to eat the lower tree leaves first or last!

            Frequently, as I’m going about the rigors of daily life I find myself thinking: “I have no idea what I’m doing.  How am I qualified to be an adult?  I’m just guessing!”  Most of my life decisions are comparable to me on a high dive trying to work up the courage to jump and then praying that there’s actually water down there once I do!

That’s not to say that I don’t plan.  I do.  I’ve just become resigned to the fact that many of my plans will be derailed as soon as they’re started, and adjusted accordingly.  When I was still in my first two or three years of adulthood this was something I really struggled with.  When my plans were frustrated the decision-making part of my brain would throw a tantrum.  It was an internal tantrum, but it still made me very unpleasant to be around, and I lived with myself! (And still do.) 

Anyway, I wish there was an effective way to combat this ignorance and lack of preparation in the rising generation!  I suppose that’s what good parenting and a healthy home life are for, and admittedly I do call my parents when I have questions about “life stuff”.  Still, not everyone has that option.  Many homes are far from being a safe and loving place for children to be cultivated.  I believe that the decline of healthy familial units is the cause of many of today’s world issues, including the ineptitude of many young adults.  That’s not to say that these same young adults aren’t extremely intelligent and hard-working people, they’re just ill-equipped to face all the demands of adult life.  I was decently prepared, (meaning I could cook, sew, drive, pump my own gas, and operate all basic household appliances before I was unleashed on the world) and I still spend far too much time worrying because I have no idea what I’m doing!