The brutal reality of Adulthood

Nobody tells you how exhaustjng adulthood can be. As children, we imagine growing up means having freedom and earning our own money and buying whatever we want and staying up late and making our won decisions. It sounds so wonderful until you actually get there.

Suddenly, everything has a price. Even the smallest things require calculation. You don't just buy something because you like it. You check your bank balance and think about upcoming expenses and something puts it back on the shelf. You start understanding why your parents spend so much time discussing electricity bills, groceries and savings.

The strangest oadr is how quickly life becomes a never ending list of responsibility. There are deadlines to meet and messages to reply to,bills to pay, appointments to remeber, and people expect you to have everything under control. Some morning, you wake up already tired, knowing exactly how the day will go.

And then there are relationships. People you once spoke everyday becomes occasional notifications. Friends get busy with careers, families, relationship and their own struggle. Nobody necessarily stops caring but finding time for each becomes harder. Sometimes you miss someone but don't call because you assume that they are busy. They might be doing the same way.

You also learn to hid things. You say,"I am fine", when you are worried about money, confusedbabouy your career or simply overwhelmed. You don't always have the luxury of falling apart because something still needs to be get done the next morning.

Perhaps the cruelest part is realising that you are parents are also figuring it out. For years you thought they knew exactly what they were doing. Then you grow older and understand that they were probably just making decisions with whatever knowledge and resources they had at that time.

I think adulthood is less about becoming independent and more about learning to carry responsibility while quietly missing the days when someone else carried them for you.

Sometimes I wish I could have one ordinary afternoon from childhood back. No deadlines and financial calculations and no worrying about where life is heading. Just coming home, eating something prepared by Amma and having absolutely nothing important to worry about.

Funny how the days we once wanted to escape are the ones we now wish we could revisit. But I think that is the Beauty of adulthood in a way. Looking at more perspective and it will give us more empathy and emotional maturity.