Let me preface with this, I am 18. I do not consider myself a grown-up, and I have caught myself looking for some form of adult supervision and have gone, “oh no no no no no no no”. Add a few terrified mental screams and you would have a fairly accurate account as to what goes through my head at least once a day.
First off, you gotta clean. Living at home you have the rest of your family to help you out. But if there’s a pile of garbage that a Tetris master would be jealous of, it’s on you. You have to take out the trash. You have to do the dishes. Now, please note that I hate cleaning with a burning passion. I live in a very small space, which means I made the mistake of not cleaning once, and only once.
Grocery shopping. This is a very dangerous thing to do when you are hungry. If you have a meal plan, you still need some form of food (I didn’t say anything about nutrition), because the meal plan doesn’t usually cover a semester of three meals a day. There are usually food pantries around campus that can help with supplementing. Otherwise, hop on the bus. And there is no shame in using a coupon. I mean there is a hint of embarrassment, but I would still recommend it. RetalMeNot is an app that you can get deals on, as well as Groupon.
There is a possibility that if you are in college that you have a job. Which means schedule conflicts with classes, trading shifts, and taxes. There are only two guaranteed things in life: death, and taxes. And then you have the joy of finding ways to get to work, and when to study.
Stress, at least for me, is the thing that makes growing up suck the most. Given, I am a highly stressful person. But the class, clubs, and meetings, oh my! You have classes you need to study for, homework to do, advisor meetings, club meetings, club events, papers coming all due on Monday. Doesn’t that seem so relaxing? Like when you were a kid and you could finish your homework in an hour and be done for the day? No? Yeah, that’s because now you have responsibilities that will dictate your future.
Now, I do love the freedom that growing up and going to college has given to me. I love that I decide what I do, and how much pressure I put on myself (which is still a lot). Most day to day actions are left up to me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t miss running around with my sister to dance classes and book club and Kitty Hawk. Growing up is hard, but college is a safety version of adulthood. There are people to help you work through the transition. Doesn’t mean that it sucks any less to grow up, but still, it’s something.