When you turn 18, society tells you that you are officially an adult. You can vote, sign your own forms without a parental signature and start having autonomy over yourself as a citizen. Then, when you get started on that adult life, you realize that you are not as prepared as you thought. If you’re me, you’re the type of person who called your mom the first week of school because you needed help doing laundry.
But you adjust. You learn to do your own laundry, plan your own meals and organize yourself. Then, you turn 21. Twenty-one is a more important birthday than some people imagine. Sure, everyone knows that 21 is when you can go out to bars with your friends or go to casinos with your grandma (maybe that one’s just me), but people forget about the other responsibilities. You get your horizontal license. You realize that you won’t live in the college bubble forever. And this is where I welcome you to the world of semi-adulting.
Semi-adulting is what I like to call that in-between stage where, as college students, we’re pursuing our education and dipping our toes into the career world, but we’re not quite on our own yet. Whether or not our parents are graciously helping us out throughout the undergraduate experience, the University is also aiding us by providing so many helpful resources to kickstart our futures. Because of this, we sometimes find ourselves in moments of panic where we think we know what we’re doing, but we still feel like we need a helping hand. What I’m beginning to realize is this: that’s completely normal.
If there’s anything I have learned about being an adult here at Notre Dame is that balance is key. I have learned strategies to help me keep a level-head and prevent myself from getting overwhelmed, like remembering not to allow my worries about the future impede my present and what I can do now. Plus, I meet more and more people throughout my time here that have the same feelings I do. This makes me know I’ll get through my fears, because everyone else is too.
I love my education, and I know that it is preparing me for a life of being a force for good in the world. Along with this, though, I’m realizing that there are more and more responsibilities that I didn’t consider when I first arrived at Notre Dame over two years ago. Next semester, I will be heading to Rome for a semester abroad, which is a journey I am very excited to embark on. However, in these past few weeks leading up to next semester, I have found myself facing all of the logistics and administrative preparations for my trip head-on. Still, this hasn’t put a damper on any of my enthusiasm for traveling abroad. In fact, it has just made my excitement even stronger, and I can’t wait to get over there and feel proud that I got myself across the country as an independent adult.
We often reference the “Notre Dame bubble” here on campus, but being cognizant of that bubble is what will allow us to take initiative to work on making ourselves active citizens within our campus community and within our broader society. We may be semi-adulting today, but we’ll be full on adulting by the time we graduate.