Oh Hi, We're Adults.

I think everyone thought as a kid that growing up was going to be the best thing to ever happen to them because all of the most exciting things happen when we’re “grown up.” What we didn’t realize was that our idea of what a “grown up” is changes as we get older.

When we’re eight, we can’t wait to be 10. (Double digits, baby!) When we’re 10, we want to be 13 and a teenager. When we’re 13, we want to be 16 with a driver’s license. At 16, we want to be 18, graduating high school and off to college. In college, we just can’t wait to be 21 and glimpsing the end of homework.

Then, we’re free! No homework. No curfew. No rules. We’re independent. Finally. The words “I can’t wait until I grow up so I can…[fill in the blank]” no longer apply the same way they once did.

That’s when it hits us smack in the face. We are grown up; and while it might be as awesome as we thought it would be, it also came with a lot of responsibilities we never considered (like bills). We realize that being an adult isn’t all sunshine and roses, nor is it all fun and games. In fact, being a “grown up,” a real-live, full-grown adult isn’t even about being happy all of the time.

We pretty regularly have to make choices and decisions that don’t always lead to our immediate happiness. (Like breaking up with or turning down someone whom we really love but ultimately know we wouldn’t be right or healthy for each other.) However, those choices get us one or two steps closer to where and who we want to be and to long-term happiness.

Being a “grown up” is about making the best decisions we can with the information and hoping they were the right ones that will lead us to happiness – in that moment and in the years down the road. We may not always succeed. We may not be happy 100% of the time or even 90% of the time, but even the bad and difficult decisions we inevitably make along the way lead us to those stretches of time when we are nothing but…

Happy.