At the age of five and twenty, life is in flux between feeling precious and infinitely horrifying.  Questions are ubiquitous. What does the future hold? Will goals be met? What career will you have? Will you have a partner? Be a parent? Have a house to call your own? Ever know yourself? Have your worst fears come true? Are you already defined? Destined?
                              

So I question any grown up I can find.   Which, I’m discovering, are fewer than I realize.  And in the desperate plea for answers to fill the space of uncertainty, the ultimate question arises: How do you become a grown up?
                
So I ask and so I listen for reply.  To note, nothing on the matter of growing up can ever be answered with one reply or one person.  Everyone has a different way of becoming an adult.  So I hold on to the drips of wisdom that seem like me but grown.  And for you I compiled a list…


How to become a grown up:
Ask questions and listen for the answers
Create a budget and stick to it
Know how to write a check
Know how to create a goal
Get a credit card
Pay bills on time
Commit to interests
Learn how to cook
Get a GPS
Wear scarves
Develop a community of friends
Let go of past mistakes
Say things like: “I’ll get back to you on that.”
Stop blaming your parents
Analyze your budget, not your relationships
Learn what your responsibilities are and are not
Be willing to be wrong…A LOT
Be comfortable with being honest
Fall in love with yourself a little bit each day
Let others know how lovable they are
Embrace your failings as much as your successes
Learn to laugh at yourself
Admit when you don’t know something
Soften around intensity
Crave vegetables
Smile at strangers even if that makes you look weird
Acknowledge when relationships are not working for you
Care about the people you sleep with
Read the paper
Go to Museums
Take yourself on dates
Make a lot of mistakes
Invest in yourself
Trust that all things will fall into place

……….and the list will keep growing.  Everyday is a question. Everyday is a response.
                 
Pass the word.
xo

(Creative works by Eduardo Recife, Jen Corace and Carson Ellis).