It’s a myth to think that people “feel” their age. Sure, our age affects our bodies, but in terms of who we are, how we live our lives, and the attitude we have, age is somewhat meaningless. There are eighty-year-olds with the vibrancy and zest for life as a twenty-year-old, and there are twenty-year-olds who feel old beyond their years.
Now, that’s not to say one has it right and the other doesn’t, but it’s important to note the disparity in who we are and how we develop. For this reason, you might have entered adult life, even for quite a few years now, and worry about not feeling like an attitude. Don’t worry, impostor syndrome is real and can cause some general anxiety, especially in new job environments. But what if you feel a general sense of imposter syndrome even if you’ve been an adult for some time?
Is there a way to “feel like an adult?” What does that even mean? Well, in this post we hope to take a crack at it, and potentially help you avoid ruminating on this topic, instead focusing on habits that enrich your life and give you gratitude no matter what you feel:
Manage Your Energy Well
One way of feeling like an adult is to manage your energy well and learn how to be a person. That might seem somewhat obvious, but you’d be surprised that not everyone learns this as well as they could or would otherwise have the chance to.
For example, learning how you’re most productive is a good approach to take. Perhaps you’re a night owl, or maybe you get most of your great work achieved in the morning before you even wake up. Keeping a healthy routine and schedule can help you learn to manage your energies well. When you make responsible decisions for your well-being and professional development, odds are you’ve taken a more mature view.
Take Responsibility For Your Health
There’s a feeling of invulnerability that comes from being a late teenager or young adult. Of course, not everyone is able-bodied, and individuals managing health conditions will rarely suffer the same delusions about assumed invincibility, they know the effort they go to each day to live with the dignity they should be admired for.
However, those who haven’t learned these lessons often easy to throw them away. From acting silly to impress friends to putting yourself in harmful situations without really thinking of the consequences, it’s a tale as old of time, and of course, one of the reasons military ranks often recruit from younger legal adults.
When you realize that this is the one body you have and that caring for it is important, you’ll naturally begin to make healthier decisions. That’s not to say you can’t enjoy bad food, alcohol, or even a bad habit, but a realization about the necessary responsibility often matures us, and if you know you’ve got a deeper issue with any kind of addictive substance, getting help from experts like Woburn Addiction Treatment is a very mature decision to make. Understanding mortality is often one of the last signs of adult brain development, as we begin to assess the world around us more realistically, usually around 25. This would also be a good sign that you’re maturing.
Caring For Others
One of the major changes in perspective that comes with parenthood is learning that sometimes, you are not the most important person in your life. That can sound quite weird because surely you are the center of your own world? Well yes, in many respects.
However, it’s also true that caring for others is a tremendously worthwhile venture that helps us think outside of ourselves and also shows our best qualities. Service to others is an obvious requirement as a parent, but you don’t need to have a child to learn its value.
For example, caring for a relative, helping a friend through a tough time, or even learning some excellent first aid or CPR skills through american heart association cpr can make a massive difference. You may even save a life. Taking responsibility not just for yourself, but for those you influence or impact, that’s the beginning of wisdom. Note that this isn’t always tied to age, but it certainly makes you mature.
Responsible Financial Management
You don’t have to be wealthy, without debt, earning a high salary, or have no dependents to be responsible with your financial management. It also doesn’t mean treating yourself or opting for an indulgent purchase, like taking a taxi to work instead of the bus from time to time.
That being said, responsible financial management is about being careful with your funds, trying not to be wasteful, and learning the concepts behind its management. Understanding your savings account and its rates is a good place to start. If you have debts, using debt charities to help you consolidate or speak to creditors can be a good first step.
Moreover, you can begin budgeting and tracking your expenses each month, as knowing exactly where your money is going and why is one of the best first steps towards correct financial handling – for many people, it’s just a question of data. When you have all of this connected and managed correctly, you’ll be able to curate a better output and plan well in advance. At the very least, it can help you stem the tide of financial issues, and take responsibility instead of burying your head in the sand. As always, this is the beginning of wisdom.
Don’t Worry About What Adulting Is
You become an adult when you realize that you don’t have to prove you’re an adult. Just take responsibility for yourself, and you’ll be well on your way to that.
Remember, the famous British writer C.S Lewis once said
“Critics who treat ‘adult’ as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adults themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown-up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence, they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being an adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”
With this advice, we hope you can experience more validation in who you are now, adult-feeling or not.
Life Lovers Magazine® 