Monday, November 25, 2013

Am I Slowly Turning Into An Adult?

By Mihran Kalaydjian, CHA


I could be wrong, but I think I have begun to show small signs of, dare I say it, maturing. It’s an odd feeling to turn around one day and think, “Hmm am I becoming a grown-up?!?” Now, of course referring to myself as a “grown-up” means I have a long way to go before full fledge adulthood, but I am on the train heading in the right direction. I’m probably on the wrong train, but half the fun is the ride anyway, so I don’t mind, as long as I am somewhat heading the right way.
 
There are small things I do that make me stop and think to myself that I am making it, I am growing up. Just the other day I found a recipe online and actually cooked myself a real dinner, in my real kitchen and did the dishes after. It is little things like that which can make a world of difference. The ability to cook a real meal and not almost burn down that house is something I, probably shouldn’t but do, call an accomplishment. It beats the time I attempted to make mac n cheese at 3 a.m., passed out for three hours, and woke up with my apartment smelling like a burnt pan.
 
I have other, non food related, accomplishments that make me feel the on comings of my impending adulthood. I clean the house, I have begun to keep up on my laundry, and I even make financially responsible decisions on the occasion. I have learned to think a little bit harder on how I want to spend my money, I even opened a savings account and actually put money in to it on a regular basis. I have learned what products to buy generically and what not to (F.Y.I. generic brand floss is a piece of crap, spend the extra 29 cents on some of that fancy name brand floss, your teeth deserve it). That’s what growing up is right? Learning as we go what we can, and cannot do.
 
But for me, it is really more the things I no longer do that are the true accomplishments. Things such as not throwing my phone at a tree because a boy I liked started dating someone else. Maybe that wasn’t the most adult-type behavior. There were probably just a couple of better ways I could have dealt with those feelings such as doing anything besides that, including nothing at all. I look back at times like that in my life when I behaved so grossly immature, and I do not regret them. Those are the times that helped me grow the most. I have no desire to relive those moments, but I cannot change the past, so I might as well learn something from it. I have made many mistakes, but have few regrets. I survived all of them, I got stronger, I got older and maybe a tiny bit wiser.