grownups

[miss fortune]

I know I've probably had a thread or two about this before, but I think I'm entitled to it since I've been here for a good while

is there really such a thing as a grown up?

if so, what does it mean and how does one know if they are one?

is it NECESSARY to grow up?

I've managed to make it into my 30s and still don't feel like a grown up... sure, I have a job and a SO and a house and I cook dinner and sometimes even do my own laundry, but I still kind of feel like I'm just playing around at it... for goodness sake, I'm going back to school again to change jobs just because I'm bored with my current day to day work environment and such... I hate being bored

is it possible to not grow up and still not be a drain on society?

 

[gromit]

I dunno.

I think some people equate growing up with being boring and not very fun. That's stupid and obviously I wouldn't want that.

I see growing up as taking care of yourself and being responsible for the consequences of your decisions, not making other people clean up after your messes.

If you use the first definition of growing up, then yes, you can not grow up and still not be a drain on society. I think the second is pretty much equivalent to being a drain on society.

The people I enjoy spending time with the most are the ones who have managed to be/do both: to own their lives and to have a good time doing it.

 

[gromit]

BTW from what I know of you [MENTION=1180]whatever[/MENTION], Id consider you a grownup too

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I support myself. By my definition, that makes me grown up. Anything else is irrelevant.

 

[Xander]

I know I've probably had a thread or two about this before, but I think I'm entitled to it since I've been here for a good while

is there really such a thing as a grown up?

if so, what does it mean and how does one know if they are one?

is it NECESSARY to grow up?

I've managed to make it into my 30s and still don't feel like a grown up... sure, I have a job and a SO and a house and I cook dinner and sometimes even do my own laundry, but I still kind of feel like I'm just playing around at it... for goodness sake, I'm going back to school again to change jobs just because I'm bored with my current day to day work environment and such... I hate being bored

is it possible to not grow up and still not be a drain on society?

Why bother with labels? Don't be such a nark

I'm working with people twenty years younger than me. They're still stick in the mud boring conformist next to me and so I feel young in spite of the age gap.

 

[Cellmold]

About willingness and perception of image.

I hate that there is this fairly common perception of what constitutes an 'adult'. It's just another way for people to pat themselves on the back for appearing to adhere to a common belief. Put a lot of people under pressures they are unaccustomed to and suddenly that all breaks apart.

Adult indeed.....

 

[small.wonder]

Yeah, I don't bother with these terms, but I do consider maturity a real thing that has several categories. I actually think you could look at it through the lense of Instinctual Variants. Whatever your blind spot is, that's going to be your brand of immaturity. I am horrible about self preservation, and though I do pay bills on time, I have definitely driven with my front right turn signal out now for...eh, a month and a half?

I'm probably considered very mature and responsible by most people I know, but that's mostly in an emotional, relational, spiritual sense of things. I mean, I work for myself (which doesn't go very well sometimes, because I'm a creative), I never went to school because I don't really want to pay money and jump through hoops to get a star sticker at the end of the day-- even if it could provide airtight approval for me.

I digress, but maturity is a very multifaceted thing.

 

[PeaceBaby]

As you get older you realize that the conscious awareness of being an adult is still in many ways the same awareness that you experienced 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago. There's the add-on of life experience and hopefully some personal growth and wisdom of course, but you come to understand that the 70 and 80 and 90 year old person you talk to feels that same ageless persistence of self as well. It's 'you' in your head, but the externals look different.

When I started a family I felt grown-up, but by no means was I old at that time. Having children changes things.

 

[chickpea]

I won't be a grown up til I poop out a baby and maybe not even then.

 

[Frosty]

I refuse to ever give up that sense of childish wonder. They will have to claw it from my cold dead corpse.

Seriously though, that is serious. Once you completely lose the perspective that you had on the world as a child, you lose that sort of innocent ability to relate to the world around you. Of course, manage your finances, raise your children, do everything 'adult' that you need to do, but don't ever let them take the first you away. All darkness needs light.

 

[prplchknz]

I'm not i try but i screw it up so then it's like ugh!

 

[Cygnus]

Only before the law.