Ten months ago I began a journey of practicing mindfulness every day and we've reached day 320. Yesterday, I talked about how we live being a decision and a mindset. Today is a new day.
Simply put, adulthood is a wild ride. As a kid I used to fantasize about how awesome it would be to be all grown up. All of the movies I saw kept reinforcing the idea that being an adult was awesome and I wanted to be like them: wild and crazy, free to do whatever I wanted. When I finally turned 18 and started going to college I didn't really feel all that different though. Sure, I graduated high school and now had to pay for school, but that was about it. I didn't smoke cigarettes, so I didn't really have any freedoms I didn't already have as a teenager. By the time I turned 21 I had already gone drinking and been to a dorm party or two already so again it didn't really feel like I was an adult. I was still a student, I was just older. This made me really question what it meant to actually be an adult. I felt like a lost man-child unaware of his purpose.
I think the big realization for me was when I graduated college, got a job working as coding assistant at a hospital, and hung around all of the ECG technicians who worked their way to a career (while I was still figuring out what kind of career I wanted to make for myself). I thought about my finances, what kind of legacy I wanted to leave behind, and what a happy life looked like to me. I saw that although I had many ideas I wasn't really invested in any of them. I was just coasting through life. The funny thing is, my Japanese teacher, Mr. K, always told my class to not just coast through life. I looked up to him, yet this lesson just flew by my head.
I started really digging deep and looking for what I was passionate about. Being reminded of Mr. K made me remember how much I enjoyed my Japanese class. It was, by far, the one class I spent the most of my time studying and putting my energy into. I remembered how much I loved going to Japan during my summers and how much it had widened my perspective on life. So I looked into moving to Japan. It just made sense to me. I failed the first time, but I was set on making it happen. I felt like I had to. The second time came around and I got my chance and here I am almost two years later enjoying my life in sushi land.
Now that I had a purpose, I still had to work on other things. It was the first time I was truly living on my own, so now I had to learn about house (apartment) maintenance, cooking (eating out every day adds up FAST and I wanted to avoid that as much as possible), and figuring out bills and taxes in another language. It was a stressful first two months but as I got into the swing of things it's just a normal part of life. I leveled up and now had room to make other improvements. I got a gym membership because I value my health and it feels good to stay in shape. Japan, being a country that takes image very seriously, made me reexamine my fashion sense. I definitely have a lot to learn in terms of style, but I'm learning to look up fashion trends and take grooming and skin-care more seriously. All of these are things my parents tried to teach me but my thick-skull just never let it sink in until I had to learn the hard way (love you mom and dad. Thanks for putting up with my denseness for all this time).
To me, becoming an adult is learning self-reliance and working toward improving yourself so that by the time you settle down and have kids (IF you choose to do so), you are ready to pass on all of that knowledge to the next generation. It's about finding balance and developing yourself so you can help develop others when the time comes. It doesn't have to come right away. Life is long, so take your time. Adulthood isn't a race. Take baby steps, if you have to.
Peace
"It's all about baby steps and trying to figure out how to slowly, elegantly become an adult." - Selena GomezI saw someone post a video from Wong Fu Productions called "How I Became An Adult" and I really related with the story. It was like this short film was speaking out to me and it was like looking at my own life and my current struggles. If you have time, I highly recommend watching it.
Simply put, adulthood is a wild ride. As a kid I used to fantasize about how awesome it would be to be all grown up. All of the movies I saw kept reinforcing the idea that being an adult was awesome and I wanted to be like them: wild and crazy, free to do whatever I wanted. When I finally turned 18 and started going to college I didn't really feel all that different though. Sure, I graduated high school and now had to pay for school, but that was about it. I didn't smoke cigarettes, so I didn't really have any freedoms I didn't already have as a teenager. By the time I turned 21 I had already gone drinking and been to a dorm party or two already so again it didn't really feel like I was an adult. I was still a student, I was just older. This made me really question what it meant to actually be an adult. I felt like a lost man-child unaware of his purpose.
I think the big realization for me was when I graduated college, got a job working as coding assistant at a hospital, and hung around all of the ECG technicians who worked their way to a career (while I was still figuring out what kind of career I wanted to make for myself). I thought about my finances, what kind of legacy I wanted to leave behind, and what a happy life looked like to me. I saw that although I had many ideas I wasn't really invested in any of them. I was just coasting through life. The funny thing is, my Japanese teacher, Mr. K, always told my class to not just coast through life. I looked up to him, yet this lesson just flew by my head.
I started really digging deep and looking for what I was passionate about. Being reminded of Mr. K made me remember how much I enjoyed my Japanese class. It was, by far, the one class I spent the most of my time studying and putting my energy into. I remembered how much I loved going to Japan during my summers and how much it had widened my perspective on life. So I looked into moving to Japan. It just made sense to me. I failed the first time, but I was set on making it happen. I felt like I had to. The second time came around and I got my chance and here I am almost two years later enjoying my life in sushi land.
Now that I had a purpose, I still had to work on other things. It was the first time I was truly living on my own, so now I had to learn about house (apartment) maintenance, cooking (eating out every day adds up FAST and I wanted to avoid that as much as possible), and figuring out bills and taxes in another language. It was a stressful first two months but as I got into the swing of things it's just a normal part of life. I leveled up and now had room to make other improvements. I got a gym membership because I value my health and it feels good to stay in shape. Japan, being a country that takes image very seriously, made me reexamine my fashion sense. I definitely have a lot to learn in terms of style, but I'm learning to look up fashion trends and take grooming and skin-care more seriously. All of these are things my parents tried to teach me but my thick-skull just never let it sink in until I had to learn the hard way (love you mom and dad. Thanks for putting up with my denseness for all this time).
To me, becoming an adult is learning self-reliance and working toward improving yourself so that by the time you settle down and have kids (IF you choose to do so), you are ready to pass on all of that knowledge to the next generation. It's about finding balance and developing yourself so you can help develop others when the time comes. It doesn't have to come right away. Life is long, so take your time. Adulthood isn't a race. Take baby steps, if you have to.
Peace
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| Adulthood, like coffee, is an acquired taste. You grow into it as you get older and mature as a person. The same way you don't just gulp down a good coffee, there's no need to rush into adulthood, either. |
How are you adulting? What has helped you mature and grow?
ReplyDeleteHave a great day~