20 Things I Love About Being An Adult

I don't recommend growing up to anyone.  Really, when people tell you “your college years will be the best years of your life”—believe them (for the most part).  But I will assure you—growing up does happen.  And I think it's important to make the best of every season of life and “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).  With that in mind, I would like to present:

20 Things I Love About Being An Adult:

1. Saying "Voicemail, please" when the receptionist buzzes my work phone with a cold call on the line.

2. Not worrying about what my friends and I owe each other. Getting to say "I'll get this one" and pick up the check.

3. Being an "alumnae", having an alma mater, and saying the phrase "When I was in college..."

4. Getting to know lots of different people. In my heart, I am very much a "roll with my crew" kind of person, but socializing in the adult world is much different, and I'm getting in to it. One might get coffee with someone one night, drinks with someone the next who doesn't know coffee person, and dinner the next night with someone who doesn't know either of those people.  Kinda fun.

5. Transitioning from Facebook messages to Email.

6. Saying words like "essentially" and "privy" in every day conversation.

7. Going to weddings of my friends but feeling like they’re just “grown up” proms.

8. Seeing more clearly in to things I thought when I was younger. Probably two of the biggest misconceptions I had when I was younger that I think differently about now that I’ve matured are:
       A) You need spend your adolescence and college years "finding yourself".  What does that even mean? You will become more comfortable with yourself as you get older, but there is no need to find a well-defined mold to fit in and stay there.  “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39)
       B) You will find your fulfillment in what you do for a career. Not always. There is so much pressure to "do what you love".  If that happens—praise!  But sometimes work is just work--difficult and exhausting--and there is great satisfaction to be found in things other than a profession. Namely, knowing Christ and establishing your personal ministry.

9. Always having an excuse to either go to bed early or stay up late.
Exhibit A (8:30pm): "Time for me to go to bed, I gotta get up early for work tomorrow”

Exhibit B (11pm): "Let's go to Eat N Park! I'm not gonna let work get in the way of my social life!"

10. Still not knowing what I want to be when I grow up but actually having the time, freedom, and space to figure it out by trying different things.

11. Being friends with people I would have never been friends with in high school and realizing that all of those social classes really were nonsense.

12. Carrying a mom wallet, a la:

13. Getting to know the opposite sex in a mature manner that doesn't include AIM conversations or getting your friends to "ask who he likes".

14. Making a decision to not watch a movie or TV show because I think it's a bad idea and not because my mom looked it up on screenit.com and said I couldn't watch it.

15. Asking and answering the question “So, what do you do?”

16. Being referred to as “that lady” by moms talking to their toddlers who are in the way at the store.

17. Taking my glasses on and off to see different distances.

18. Realizing there are things I remember that the younger generation never knew (portable CD players, rewinding videos, not having to dial the area code…)

19. Communicating with lots of different people over email at work and then meeting them in real life and A) laughing inside because they are nothing like what I pictured and then B) shaking their hand and saying “Nice to finally meet you, we’ve exchanged so many emails” in unison.

20. Not knowing what will happen or what I will do next.  Not having a scheduled “end date” to what I’m doing now.