The time is here. It’s time to responsibly address the fact that I am now officially an adult. In case you missed my birthday, you can get the scoop here. Being 21 automatically opened the floodgates to adulthood, and well like most of you, I was not prepared for it either. But as the days rolled out, I have started to understand what it is like to be an adult in the 21st century.
I’m just kidding. I’m as clueless as you are.
So with the help of a few *Adult* friends and thanks to a couple of adulting books I’ve been reading. I have brought out the good, the bad and the ugly things about being an adult. Get your adult on; you’re going on a *long* ride.
The Good things about being an adult:Â
Adulting is hard, I won’t sugarcoat it or anything, and most of the time, it’ll hit you when you’re least expecting. But that surely doesn’t make being an adult a bad experience, does it?
#1. Bye, Bye! FAKE ID’s:
We’ve all been there. You go the hottest club in town on a Friday evening with your friends at 19 but wait; there’s a catch- entry is restricted to above 21 only. What do you do? Yep, Fake ID. These little bad boys have rescued you from what could’ve been a sticky and embarrassing situation so many times in the past. Â But now that you’re 21, you don’t need Fake ID’s anymore, and nobody can stop you from doing the rounds on the club, responsibly.

#2. New Apartment Space = Hello DIY decor!
As you grow up and into an Adult, you have the fabulous idea of leaving the comforts of your utterly beautiful home and live in another part of the world, another city or maybe just a few blocks away from the place you once called home. Once you get your new and wholly unfurnished apartment space, that DIY and Pinterest addict in you squeals in excitement for you can now finally set your home, the way you want to without your mom screaming at you for drilling multiple holes in the wall.

#3. You are ‘almost’ free to buy ‘almost’ anything you wish:
The best thing about being an Adult would probably be the fact that you can buy that cute dress your mom wouldn’t let you buy or those leather boots you’ve been eyeing but your dad said sneakers are the best choice for you. Now that you’re a responsible adult you can treat yourself to those sporadic shopping attacks whenever you want.

#4. You can eat, drink and sleep anytime you want.
You are now an Adult, probably living on your terms. So what do you do first? You eat pizza at 3 AM and drink wine at 12 PM (not saying it’s a good thing though). You are no longer bound by the curfew your parents set you when you were a *kid*. Go ahead, open the fridge and eat whatever you wish, without the fear of waking your parents up.

#5. You are experienced.
Adulthood does not magically open all the doors to everything you need to know about the world, but it does make you prepared for the unexpected curveballs life may throw at you.
Broke a bulb? You got this.
Flat tire, no problem!
Spider infestation? Umm..Dad?

#6. You can FINALLY have a pet!
For those who had pet allowing parents at home, you’re spoilt. For those like me, who never had the chance to bring a furball home. Congratulations dear Sir or Madame, now that you have your apartment (hopefully) you can have *whatever pet you have always fascinated about having. Want a dog? Get it, a cat, a bird? The choice is yours.
*I am not responsible if this point inspires you to get a tiger. I will not be held guilty if the tiger eats you up. 
#7. You make your own money, Sonny!
You pretty much get access to the only most powerful thing in this world, MONEY! Adulthood pretty much opens up a lot of opportunities for you to earn some cha-ching without having an actual job (not talking about drug dealing). Find your path and make your power!
(Explains the #3 point or maybe just the ‘almost’)

The Bad things about being an Adult:
*Pressure Intensifies*
#1. You get introduced to a lot of ‘bills.’
‘Bill’ here is unlike any of the Tinder dates you’ll ever have. ‘Bill’ comes only when you’re an Adult, counting the last few bucks off your month’s salary or income at the end of every month. You can relate ‘Bill’ to that friend who periodically takes money from you but never returns, the only difference being; this ‘Bill’ lets you cry over paper traces every month. Welcome to Adulthood.

#2. You’ll sit with ‘bill’ once a week, and you hate the confrontation.
So, ‘bill’ needs attention. Lots of it. Because if you don’t give your ‘bill’ due importance and don’t give him the money he needs to get out of your life for good, he’s going to bring all his other friends out and you’ll be left pretty penniless after that.
So you finally decide to sit, one Sunday morning with Bill and all his friends (because apparently, you ignored him last month). Bill takes care of your Rent, Electricity, Grocery, pretty much your whole life on a monthly basis. Never. Ignore. ‘Bill’.
Not enjoying Adulthood now, are we?

#3. You forget about ‘bill’, and ‘bill’ takes revenge on you.
So you unintentionally forget about this one important friend of ‘bill’ the monthly electricity bill, or maybe you kept it so safely you cannot remember the location anymore. You let it go, expecting a fine with next month’s ‘bill’, but you’re wrong, the price of ignoring ‘bill’ or any of his friends are more than just a fine. So you come home after a long day of work and realise there is no electricity. Yep, ‘bill’ has taken his revenge.

#4. You suddenly realise you’re all alone.
Remember the time you proudly walked into your own unfurnished home? Well the realisation of the fact that not only is your apartment only filled with pieces of furniture but you’re also the only *human* living in it, you start missing your friends, your mom’s delicious apple pie and the spontaneous trips with your Dad to the beach. The realisation that you’re all alone, even though your loved ones are just a call away is something you’ll never get over.

#5. You PROCRASTINATE. A little too much.
It’s nothing new. You’ve been procrastinating since forever. So what changed? The intensity of your procrastination. It’s almost as though the level of procrastination is directly related to your age. The more you age, the more you procrastinate. You will eventually put off cooking, cleaning the house, washing the sheets and finally look like someone living in the jungle for over 10-years.

#6. Healthy food will never make it to your menu, or your cart.
Living alone would naturally mean you will have to cook for yourself while keeping the proper balance of nutrition and protein in your everyday diet. I mean if Oreo’s and McDonald’s had been considered as a healthy way to live, I would have been the first human to start preaching it. Living alone, also means nobody would correct you or advise you to eat healthily, so when you start gaining weight, you temporarily stop the junk but start out of pity when you don’t see any results of *Fitness Goals*. The struggle is real.

#7. Cooking on your own is a nightmare.
Cooking requires practice; I can vouch for that. If you are someone who only walks into the kitchen to eat pre-cooked food or someone who lives of off outside junk. I’m sure you cannot differentiate between urad dal and chana daal (calling your mom for advice is not embarrassing). So when you finally head to the kitchen to cook up a culinary masterpiece you end up doing this and crying in the corner for the rest of the day, hungry and sad:

The worst things about being an Adult.
So far you’ve walked through the clean, green grass, you’ve also been pricked by a few thorns here and there. Before you get into the list, imagine walking on glass barefooted, because that’s exactly how it will feel now. Smile and step forward!
#1. Everybody is suddenly worried about your marriage, sexuality, and job *fake smile*.
You will be thrown into a frenzy of old and primitive relatives surrounding you asking you questions in no particular order such as ‘Beta, when are you getting married?’, ‘Beta, how much are you earning?’, ‘Beta, get a job. It’s time.’ And god forbid if you’re doing an unconventional job- ‘Beta, there is no scope here, go for *enter a cliched job that Sharma Ji’s son is doing*’. If you’re not already regretting adulthood with a fake smile, there’s more.

#2. Big, bad, wrinkly dark circles.
Late night binge watching, will not seem so relaxing when you wake up in the morning with dark circles darker than the Panda. Your metabolism slows, and the pimples on your face get ickier. Well, you should’ve added those healthy things to your grocery list when you had the time to. *Sigh*

#3. Socializing suddenly becomes an exhaustive affair.
Socializing makes you so tired, you tactfully craft excuses so you wouldn’t have to deal with other real humans at all. Because honestly, you would just stay at home and watch ‘Game of Thrones’ (again) rather than hear Tina, talk about her failed marriage.

#4. Your ideal ‘Adulthood’ vision is burnt, kept in an urn and thrown in the ocean.Â
In other words, what fictional books and movies have taught you so far about ‘Adulthood’ was let’s just say a lie. Drinking all day, and partying all night is a myth, to help ease you into ‘Adulthood’. This is how real ‘Adulthood’ is- you work all day, probably all night on weekdays and you stay at home, curl yourself into a ball and binge watch Netflix all weekend.

#5. Calling the doctor for an appointment. ON YOUR OWN, because your body hates you.
Some fear doctor visits, and then there are some who fear any form of telephonic conversation with a doctor. When you were living your carefree, non-adult phases, doctor appointments were usually taken care of by your parents. But as you become an adult, you realise there are certain things you will have to take care of on your own now. Including calling the doctor. As daunting as it may sound, it’s better than crying over the fact that WebMD told you that the root of your headache is a parasite in your head.

#6. One word, COMPETITION.
I’m sure the last time you ever came anywhere close to the word ‘Competition’ was when you were in school trying to participate in an Inter-school event. But in the real world, the competition toughens. In the real world, you have to fight for a space in the metro, in the bus, run a marathon to get to the elevator hoping it’s empty. You have to compete for everything, and it’s nothing like the ones you had in school.

#7. The reality finally starts setting in.
You finally accept the fact that you are an adult and are ready to embrace the world like an adult. Only that, none of that will happen and you will continue smiling through the pain like you always have been. Let that sink in for a while.
Here, have a cookie.

Congratulations on making so far, Human! You should be awarded something, and I have just what you need *digs into pocket*, Erm, I remember keeping it right here *Digs some more*, well this is embarrassing. I guess you will have to take the disappointment.
Adulthood is not an easy path but rests assured it will be one full of funny memories, bonds and change. I hope so.
While we’re at the end of the post, I would like to thank the INTERNET first, for helping me face Adulthood one day at a time with cat videos and for also providing the images and GIF’s above. A much-deserved thank you goes out to Jyotishman Sharma for suggesting the blog title and more or less inspiring the post.
What are the adulting issues you have or are facing in your life? Give me a holler down in the comments section. Let’s discuss!
Here’s to being the imperfect Adults we are!

Note: Thank you for sticking with me for over four years. I cannot thank you enough for helping me through everything. I have been nominated for the IndiBlogger Award, 2017 and would love it if you could click on the IndiBlogger image below this page and register your vote for me.

Header Image credits:Â Twenty Something




