Growing Up: The Most Difficult Things to Get to Grips With as You Enter Adulthood
We all have to grow up eventually, and that means we have to come to terms with what adulthood has to offer. Unfortunately, it’s not all fun and games. One of the tragedies of youth is that we often spend it wishing we were more grown up so we could grown up things. But when that time eventually does arrive, it’s not always as great as we imagined. In fact, it’s pretty difficult and a lot worse in many ways. As you enter adulthood, you will start to realise this fact. But it’s best to be prepared for it in advance. That way, you won’t be taken by surprise.
If you’re the kind of person who struggles to deal with responsibilities and yearns for a simpler life, you’ll recognise some of the problems below. Dealing with life in the real world is never very easy. But being prepared for the hand you’ll be dealt by adulthood can help to soften the blow, at least. So, here are the most difficult things to get to grips with as you grow up and enter adulthood.
You’ll Start Feeling Like Time to Reach Your Goals is Running Out
Do you have some particular goals that you want to achieve in life? Most of us do. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But those dreams can start to seem less and less achievable as we move through life without actually getting any closer to them. This can be dispiriting and hard to accept, but it’s the reality that many people find themselves having to deal with.
That’s not to say that it’s impossible to achieve your dreams. But as you enter your mid-20s, you have to be prepared to either take clear action or take a different route in life. Leaving those dreams behind and embracing something else can be difficult at first. But you might eventually find that it’s the right thing to do, and it could all work out for the best.
Work and Exhaustion Damage Your Social Life
When you’re younger, you image your social life will be incredible when you’re in your 20s. It doesn’t often work out like that, however. Your job will end up taking its toll on you. And that can leave you tired and exhausted at the end of the day. It’s often the case that you are more interested in an early night than a night out when you have a busy and tiring job.
Sometimes, you have to make a real effort to keep your social life in good shape. Burning the candle at both ends will take its toll on your body sooner or later, though. So, you need to be careful and try to strike a healthy balance between your work life and your social life. If you can do that, you might be able to manage everything successfully.
Learning to Manage Money Responsibly
Managing your money can be a real difficulty when you’re a young adult. Making sure you have more money coming in than going out is key. It might sound simple, but when you’ve got rent to pay and other responsibilities, it’s not easy. Many young people end up getting into debt because they don’t know how to manage their money properly. Or they may look towards a family member promissory note template as a way to ask close family members or friends for money during a tough spot.
Borrowing money doesn’t have to always be a bad thing. It can help you out, but you need to know how to do it properly. If you don’t know the difference between payday loans and consolidation loans, you need to educate yourself. That’s the only way you’ll ever be able to maintain a healthy financial situation for yourself.
Losing Touch with Old Friends
All those friends that you had when you were young start to go their own way when they grow up. And you will too. So, you need to be prepared to work hard if you want to maintain those friendships. It’s easy to lose contact with people as you enter adulthood, and that leads to many friendships simply falling apart through a lack of contact and free time.
You have to make time to see people and stay in touch if you want those friendships to survive the transition to adulthood. Many people just assume that they will stay in touch and stay friends, but then life has other ideas and those plans disintegrate. It’s one of the most painful truths of adulthood, so make sure you’re prepared for it.
Dealing with Office Politics
If you thought all the cliques and rivalries and arguments were bad in school, wait until you get embroiled in office politics. When your career is in full swing, you will be working alongside other people. You might like them; you might hate them. Either way, there will probably be a complex web of relationships and grudges in place before you even arrive.
Learning to navigate the rocky terrain of office politics can be incredibly difficult. You will make mistakes and probably end up having regrets. It’s best just to find a place where you can fit in without causing too many problems. Once you find some people you like, stick with them and try to stay out of office politics and all the issues that come with that.
Having to be Mature When You Don’t Want To
Are you a mature person? It’s thought that most people don’t see themselves as being grown up until they hit the age of 29. And it can take some people even longer than that. So, how do you deal with those adult situations in which you’re expected to be mature when you really don’t want to be? Letting go of your inner child is not as easy as it might seem.
It’s all about adapting to the particular situation you find yourself in. If you can do that, you should have no problem achieving what you want to without annoying those around you. Maybe you will just have to find maturity in your own way. We’re all different, and we all mature in different ways and at different stages in our lives.
Cooking and Hosting Dinner Parties
When you live at home, you can get away with doing very little cooking. And when you’re a student, you can live off junk food most of the time. But when you get a job, you suddenly need to take cooking and food a little more seriously. Of course, you could carry on living off junk food. But your waistline won’t stay slim for much longer if you do.
Make sure you take some time to learn how to cook. The problem is, when you’ve done that, friends and colleagues might start expecting you to host dinner parties. This is a whole other world, and it can all go horribly wrong if you’re not prepared for it.
Dealing with Landlords and Mortgages
You’re going to need a place to live, but whether you choose to rent or buy, you’ll have to be careful. Landlords are not always the greatest people in the world. They can be out to make a profit rather than give you a good place to live. Of course, not all landlords are like that, but you should be prepared for the worst.
On the other hand, mortgages can be just as difficult to deal with, especially if you are young and don’t have a huge income. Always ensure that you are going to be able to meet the long-term demands of your mortgage before you sign any of the papers. Things can go disastrously wrong if you fail to meet deadlines on repayments.
Watching Those Around You Grow Up Faster and More Successfully
When you’re entering adulthood, there is always a temptation to compare your own achievements to those of the people around you. If they are doing better, it can be hard. Maybe your best friend is already getting married or starting a family or doing their dream job. Of course, you are happy for them, but you always wish you were doing as well as them.
This is a perfectly natural way to feel, and it’s something that many people experience. You need to be able to deal with those feels and find a way to deal with them if you are going to be happy with your own situation. Focus on the positives and find ways to get the things you want to do done.
Life Can be a Let Down Sometimes
Sometimes, life can be a big let down. It’s one of those unspoken truths that not many people like to admit. But when you are working 9 to 5, and you seem to be going nowhere, it’s easy to become disillusioned with the whole situation. Rather than getting down about it, you should try to take action.
Life is what you make of it, and if it’s not going in the direction you wanted it to, maybe it’s time to change course. You can always do new things or try something you’ve never done before. And keep reassessing your career situation until you find an arrangement that works best for you.